


Shrine to the Fickle Mermaid

by Malkuthe



Series: Jercy Smuttings [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Avian!Jason, Come Inflation, Dolphin Cock, Eventual Smut, Fear, M/M, Merman!Percy, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Self-Lubrication, Separations, Spontaneous Orgasm, Superstition, Underwater Sex, cross-dressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-24
Updated: 2015-05-27
Packaged: 2018-03-25 11:52:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3809401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Malkuthe/pseuds/Malkuthe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a little cave on a little rocky island just off the shore of the fabled port city of Theopolis, and fishermen and sailors alike know to visit it every time they are about to embark on important journeys. Within is a shrine, the ‘shrine to the Fickle Mermaid’, they called it, where it is said there lives a mermaid that grants safe voyage and a little measure of gold to whomever can pay ‘her’ simple price: sexual satisfaction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Departure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [razielim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/razielim/gifts).



> This is for you, dearest Gabriel. :D I hope you enjoy a little taste of what's in store over the next week or so. 
> 
> *cackles maniacally* This fic, while not written primarily for it, was inspired by Gabriel's "[Jercy Challenge](http://kinkyjercy.tumblr.com/post/117001942712/jercy-challenge)," so I hope you enjoy it. >:].

Though the meaning of the day was grim, serenity ruled the early morning. The cool air was dominated only by the fresh smell of the sea and the soft sound of the waves crashing against the smooth stones of the little alcove carved into the cliff-face by the grand city of Olympus.

The calm of the morning was pierced by the sound of an eagle screeching as it circled high above, its watchful eye trained upon its charge, and the sniffling of that young man who was sat waist-deep on a smooth rock in the roiling seawater.

Across from the young man, lounging on a rock of his own, was a creature both strange and rare: a merman with hair of inky black like the deepest trenches of the ocean, a face as beautiful as the grandest of reefs, a tail as brilliant in the morning light as the great multitudes of fish in the sea, and of course, eyes as green as the clearest of seawaters.

“Perseus,” whispered the young man who was sitting on the rock, the eagle’s charge. He could only just keep the tears out of his words. Though he did not wish to appear so distressed, he could not help it, for the matter of his visit to the cove was grim.

The young man was as well a beauty to behold. His eyes were blue as the gorgeous skies above, framed by a face soft yet sculpted with the same beauty as the clouds. His hair was of gold much like the sun’s own fiery locks, and his temperament, other than on this day, was as calm as the fresh morning air.

Where Perseus, the merman, had a tail that told of all the bounty of the seas, the other young man was blessed with great feathery wings that told of all the aloofness of the heavens.

Those same wings drooped now with the same sadness that brought offending tears to the winged young man’s eyes. Perseus could not help, as he looked upon his friend, that such sorrow was an affront to the young man’s beauty.

“Perseus, I am sorry, but I’ve no choice in the matter,” said the winged young man. He was genuinely upset by the unforeseen turn of events, yet apart from that, he was hurt more than anything by the way that Perseus was swirling the foamy tidewaters seemingly unconcerned with what he was saying.

“I must leave with mother and Thalia,” said the young man, glaring at his friend. Perseus rolled over onto his back and looked at the young man with a raised  eyebrow. The young man averted his gaze. “The king seems to have tired of mother and has banished her to a faraway land. Why are you not as distressed as I? We might not ever see each other again!”

Perseus rolled off of his rock and swam through the swirling waters, twirling and flowing from side to side as the waves that brought the tide rushed out of the cove only to be met by more waves sweeping in. “Jason,” he said, in a voice not quite as musical as his admittedly rather bad song, “Be strong.”

“Worry not, my dear friend,” said Perseus with a smile that somehow was both innocent and mischievous. His sea-green eyes darted down to his hand as he swirled his slender fingers through the foam of the tide. The water glimmered and frothed with the kind of magic that only the children of the Lord of the Seas had at their beck and call. “I shall never stray far,” he said.

Neither Perseus with all the magic at his disposal, nor Jason with his own formidable powers, had foreseen their meeting. What a meeting it had been, indeed, and even now, as fate conspired to tear them apart, Jason was sure that the friendship their meeting had sparked would last eternity.

Both Jason and Perseus had learned to nurture feelings more than friendship for the other, though neither of them knew that what they felt was secretly requited. Neither had gained the courage to speak of the yearnings of their hearts, and even now, they held back, fear of rejection staying their tongues.

Perseus pressed his slender and gentle fingers into Jason’s palm. Though he was distressed, Jason could not help but smile as Perseus took his hand and raised it level to Perseus’ lips. Perseus breathed enchantment upon the silver bauble with its sea-green crystal, a grin alighting upon his lips when the stone took on an arcane glimmer in the morning light.

“Take with you this part of me,” said Perseus, as he covered the pendant on Jason’s palm with his own. Their fingers were mere hairsbreadths from intertwining in lovers’ embrace, but again, fear held them back.

“Know that I shall never stray too far,” said Perseus, folding Jason’s fingers over the silver bauble. “Wherever you might go, only think of me, and this enchantment shall grow bright to remind you should I be near.” He pressed his lips to Jason’s knuckles.

“This stone shall take upon brilliance that grows greater the closer I am if only you would think of me, so I beg you, never forget.” Jason lowered his eyes to his hand, still held tentatively by the warmth of Perseus’ flesh. He looked up and met Perseus’ eyes, grateful beyond words for the small but meaningful gift he now held in his palm.

Jason felt warmth creep into his cheeks, though he could not be bothered to turn away to hide his embarrassment. This was no time to look away from his best and only friend. Though the gift in his hand offered some reassurance, Jason was uncertain that they would ever meet again.

Jason drank in the sight of Perseus and considered speaking the desires of his heart, though quickly his thoughts turned to the possibility of rejection. He did not want to sully this goodbye of theirs if it was to be their final meeting.

Perseus slowly removed his hand from Jason’s as Jason clutched the silver bauble to his chest. Jason looked down at his hand, then looked at Perseus once more, committing the image of the merman to his mind. No sooner had he met Perseus’ eyes than he gasped in awe at the sight that was made manifest before him.

The entire alcove, with its smooth stone walls dripping with moisture from the spray of the seawater was set alight by a sea-green blaze the exact same colour as Perseus’ beautiful eyes. Jason looked upon his best friend in both shock and delight as the colour danced upon the walls and seemingly made Perseus’ eyes twinkle.

“Thank you,” whispered Jason, unable to find any more words to express the gratitude he felt for the gift he held in his hands.

Perseus smiled, warmth creeping into his face from the mere sight of Jason’s joy. He opened his mouth as though to say something, his face scrunching up in preparation for what he feared would be rejection. He was fortunate that the words died in his throat.

Perseus swallowed, clearing his throat. “Fare thee well, Jason,” he said, with a sad smile; “Know that your stars are mine own, and that should you remember me, we shall not be apart for long.”

Jason could not respond but with a nod of his head as his resolve cracked and the tears began to flow freely from his eyes. Great droplets rolled down his cheeks, pooling at his chin and dripping down to splash against the retreating tide.

Jason clambered out of the emptying pool of seawater, wiping his eyes with the backs of his hands. He stood on the edge of the great basin for a very long time, watching the tell-tale glimmer of Perseus’ many-coloured tail as his best and only friend swam away. He watched as the light radiating from the pendant he still held firmly in his fist grew fainter and fainter as Perseus returned to his home in the deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I certainly hope you enjoyed this fic. :3. I definitely enjoyed writing it. It's going to be equal measures of fluff and angst, because, as you might well know by now, I love my angst. *bares angstmonster fangs*
> 
> What I'd like to know is what you think about the pacing, about the premise, about the writing style, and, of course, about the characterization. :3. I'd love to read your thoughts, so if you like the story so far, leave me a comment, as always. :3. I will love you a lot if you do. <3.
> 
> There will be two more chapters after this one, significantly longer than this, of course, as this is simply a prologue. I cannot promise that this fic will not blow up into a much larger one, however. :3. Anyway, you can find me on tumblr at [Malkuthe Highwind](http://malkuthehighwind.tumblr.com) if ever you want to drop a couple of words in my ask box or maybe request a fic to be made. :3.


	2. Love in the Darkness

Eventide had descended upon the land, and with it had come the rising of the seas. The mooring by the makeshift dock on the rocky island was unsafe at best, utterly terrifying at worst. Jason was not so sure that his little rickety rowboat would hold up against the rather strong waves crashing against the rocks all around him.

Jason held his arm in front of his face to shield himself from the spray of the seawater. He raised his eyes to the heavens, turned dark by the embrace of the night. There was no moonlight to make his way clear.

Nevertheless, the darkness all around Jason only served to strengthen his resolve. That was what he liked to tell himself. In truth, the moon’s disappearance had brought with it the spring tide, and Jason did not think he would dare brave the turbulent waters of the bay again until the high tide passed.

Jason hefted the torch in his hand. The flame upon its crown was guttering from the spray of saltwater from the breaking waves. He was more than thankful that it burned still. The hour he had spent rowing toward the island had been mostly spent in yelling at himself for bringing a torch instead of the more sensible lamp.

Nevertheless, a torch was what Jason had and he was at the very least grateful it yet burned. He swept the torch this way and that, eyes searching for _anything_ of note that might tell him he had rowed an hour from his ship docked at Theopolis to the _right_ rock in the bay, for there were three.

Perhaps an older, wiser man would have simply waited by the water’s edge and waited for the tide to recede. A wiser man would have left to try again on a day when there was moonlight to guide him. Jason, however, despite the many years he had lived upon the earth, was not such a man.

Jason stubbornly continued looking for _something_ to tell him he had not just wasted an hour of his night because of some blasted local superstition. The more frustrated, the more the wings tattooed on his back tingled, the magic he had woven to bind his wings to his body, hiding them in plain sight, was being weakened by his exasperation.

Jason was no mortal man. He was long past what mortals would consider his prime, though few people, if any, were aware of it. He was a fey child of the Lord of the Heavens, and as such, he did not sicken, age, nor die like mortal men.

Even now, two centuries into his long life, Jason looked to be at the pinnacle of his youth, filled with strength, vigour and virility known only to those with yet many more years to live.

Needless to say, though half-fey, Jason had grown up among mortal men, and that old life of his had not prepared him for the truth of being immortal. He had never imagined that he would grow so bored of living.

Jason was, however, fortunate enough that in his boredom, he managed to gain the captaincy of a ship that the Merchant Guild of Theopolis had commissioned to chart the yet-unknown and unexplored southern seas. While the Guild would have wanted someone with more seafaring experience and credentials, they were more than glad to take Jason’s offer of service after two years of getting nowhere with their search.

Few, if the Guildmasters’ words were anything to go by, were willing to explore the sea. The Guild had even taken to calling the southern seas the _Mare Nostrum_ , ‘our sea,’ in the hope that it would sound somewhat more welcoming and enticing for captains. Needless to say, the number of volunteers they had had over the intervening two years never rose above zero.

Jason, however, had had the perfect combination of yearning for adventure, immortality, boredom, recklessness, need for coin, and stupidity, to convince him to go where others would not even dare _think_ of going.

Jason had supposed that he would not lose much by indulging the Guild its wishes. If, however, he had known that accepting the task would have entailed spending his night on a gods-forsaken pile of slippery rocks in the middle of Theopolis’ bay, he might have reconsidered his decision to go ahead and accept the commission.

As it stood, however, Jason’s ship was rather woefully understaffed. He might have volunteered as captain, but no crew members volunteered with him. He had _one_ crew member: his eagle. Both friend, guardian, and familiar, the eagle had been with Jason for as long as he could remember. Nonetheless, the bird was now sleeping on the mast after stubbornly refusing to accompany Jason on the long row to the rocky island that was supposed to be some ‘shrine.’

Jason shook his head and sighed in exasperation. He was entirely prepared to give up when the flickering light of his torch alighted upon a block of stone that looked rather out of place. With great care that he not slip and by accident drown his only source of light, Jason walked to the slab of rock and looked upon its face.

There etched into the stone were words etched so deep that the light of Jason’s torch could not strike their depths. Jason traced his fingers over the carvings and snatched them back when he felt a tingle. The carvings were without doubt made with magic.

“ _For sailors seek calm waters and strong winds, and fishermen seek laden lines and bountiful nets, they are both one and the same: men of the sea. Let he who wishes to seek the Lady_ _’s blessing lay down cloth and weapon.”_

Jason frowned. The stone could not possibly be saying what he thought it was saying. “ _Let him come to her naked but for the dress of his birth, free of the trappings of material need. Let he who comes in purity bring light upon her shrine and speak thrice old name of ancient sea. She shall come to those deserving._ ”

Jason’s brows furrowed even more at the words for he did not like what they said at all. He carefully walked around to the back of the slab, hoping against hope that the engraving was merely a test. Instead of a riddle, however, Jason found a set of doors set in the stone of the ground and a bracket on the slab upon which he could fasten his torch.

Curious as to what could possibly be within, Jason pried the doors open, surprised when they swung open on well-oiled hinges. He blinked in surprise that the doors were, in fact, the lids to a wooden box, one that stank of magic that seemed to make it impervious to the near-perpetual spray of seawater.

Jason sighed at the sight. He knew that the compartment meant only that the words were not riddles but precise instructions. He had to admit that while he was surprised that a shrine to a supposedly-mythological creature—though he knew better—would be so straightforward, he was not amused by the prospect of having to gain entrance whilst nude.

Jason could not understand why he had to get naked to seek the blessings of this ‘Fickle Mermaid’ as the locals called her. Yes, he had heard that she offered amulets of protection against raging seas in exchange for sex, but he had assumed that he could always just undress _inside_ the shrine. He was beginning to see why the locals called the mermaid fickle.

On the other hand, Jason was not looking forward to the coupling, either. He had never been particularly fond of the company of women in bed. He had always enjoyed sinking his formidable manhood in the tight warmth of men who would cry out as though he gave them more pleasure than they had ever experienced at any other time in their lives.

Nevertheless, it had quickly become apparent to Jason in Theopolis that no one would even consider helping him crew his ship unless he possessed one of the Mermaid’s amulets. He had considered looking for a counterfeit, but he also found out that the Guild had outlawed the sale of fake amulets of protection.

Thus, needing a crew was the sole reason that Jason found himself on the damnable, dreary rock that was somehow supposed to be a shrine of sorts. He was less than amused that he would have to be naked on top of that.

Jason looked down at the enchanted compartment and sighed as his fingers crept up to his collar and undid the laces that tied his shirt around his shoulders. He tried to convince himself that there really was no great need for him to subject himself to such humiliation as this, but he had always been a man of his word and running away from the messes he made was something that simply was not in his nature. Jason slipped his shirt off of his body and tossed it haphazardly into the compartment.

Jason, in his infinite wisdom, subjected himself to doubt once more as he began to undo the laces that held his breeches around his hips. “ _Is the commission really that necessary?_ ” He asked himself. Jason pondered the answer, grimacing at the thought of eking out a living in the increasingly-barren nearby mountains.

“ _Yes,_ ” was Jason’s answer to his own question. The money was indeed necessary. City life was simply much more pleasant and secure than life in the wilds as a recluse.

Nevertheless, Jason did not enjoy the thought that to continue living as he had, he needed to come naked before a mermaid and have sex with her. Jason gritted his teeth and forged ahead. He let the laces of his breeches fall to either side of his groin. In one motion, he slipped his trousers and his undergarments down to his ankles.

Jason removed his sandals before he removed what little remained of his clothing. He stowed everything away in the box, praying fervently that this was not some charlatan’s scheme. He prayed that he would not emerge from the nearby cave, naked as the day he was born, shivering in the damp cold, only to find that his clothes had been stolen.

There was only one thing that remained on Jason’s person. It was a silver chain that dangled about his neck, threaded through a pendant with a sea-green stone inlaid into it. It was, without doubt, his most precious possession, and it was something that he had committed great atrocities for.

Though the blood of dozens of people was on Jason’s hands, it was not his fault that the Thieves’ guild of that one city in the far East stole his pendant. He often tried to wash the blood from his fingers, but he did not regret what he did.

Jason was certain that if his pendant were stolen again, he would not hesitate to kill if necessary to get it back. He gripped the pendant tightly with his fist, thoughts turning to the young merman he had been friends with so long ago.

There was still a part of Jason that held on to hope that they would meet again someday. Jason was still certainly in love with the young merman, though it had been centuries since last they met. A part of him, however, hardened by the real world, dismissed his thoughts as baseless idealism.

Jason frowned and turned his thoughts away from that young merman. He did not notice the weak glow of the pendant as memories of Perseus slipped back into the shadows at the edge of his mind.

Jason looked down, thoughts returning to the matter at hand as he closed the two doors to the compartment that held his clothes. He clutched his arms against his chest, feeling the chill of the ocean spray against his bare skin. He was cold, he was wet, he was naked, he was unhappy, but more than those things, he was stranded until the tide ebbed.

Jason steeled himself before wrenching the torch out of the bracket he had thrust it into to keep it upright. He held the flame at arm’s length before him as he made his way to the cave that supposedly was home to the ‘Shrine to the Fickle Mermaid.’

The guttering flame of the torch cast its light upon the slippery rocks that paved Jason’s way. He gritted his teeth, placed his feet carefully, and made his way slowly to the cave entrance.

Upon reaching the cave’s mouth, Jason’s eyes were drawn upward to the archway carved into the otherwise rough-looking rock. The arch was subtle in its intricacy, yet it was grand all the same. All along its height, and along the length of the horizontal piece, wound spiralling etchings reminiscent of waves that were so masterfully made it seemed as though they took on a life of their own in the light of Jason’s torch.

If Jason had any doubts about the legitimacy of the presence of the shrine in the cave, he certainly did not have any remaining. His doubts about whether the island was entirely safe from predators of the thieving type, however, were untouched.

Jason turned to look at the island behind him as precaution one last time before he plunged headlong into the darkness of the cave. He could never be too sure that there was not some bastard seeking to make a quick piece or two of silver off of the clothes he had left behind. Jason did not feel very relieved by the fact that there was no one he could see.

Jason turned back to the cave and thrust his torch into the yawning shadows that awaited him beyond the threshold of the archway. He walked into the darkness and felt the tell-tale tingle of magic in the air as whatever moisture still clung to him was swept away.

The inside of the cave was dry, thanks in no small part to the magic that seemed to keep water from the waves out of it. Jason shook his head. It had been so long since he last saw this much magic worked in one place. He had thought all the sacred places of old had been swept away by the tide of progress.

Jason traced the dry walls with his fingers, marvelling at the feeling of the smooth ridges of the stone underneath his fingers. He nearly pissed himself when the next step he took very nearly tossed him over a ledge. Fortunately for Jason, his footsteps were light, and he was able to stop himself.

Panting, heart thundering in his chest, Jason thrust the torch in the direction he had almost fallen. He had not even noticed there was a set of stairs embedded in the rock. He looked around, though it did not seem there were any other ways to go.

Jason shook his head and sighed. He should have guessed that the actual shrine would be deeper into the island.

Jason braced one of his arms against the cave wall and carefully descended the stairs one step at a time. He kept the torch in front of him to make sure that he could clearly see each step that came. There was no telling what awaited him at the foot of the stairs, but he certainly did not want to find out by tumbling all over himself to get there.

Jason paused at the landing, eyes still fixed on the stone floor underneath his toes. There was something in the air, and not just the smell of his torch burning. He sniffed. He took a deep breath. He felt a heat rise in his belly and a stirring make itself known in his loins. His member began to harden in between his legs.

Heady male musk permeated the very air around Jason, and no matter how great or small his breaths were, the thick scent of male arousal filled Jason’s lungs and stoked sensual fires in his veins. His free hand drifted down to his groin, his fingers wrapping around the base of his firming cock. He never once realized how strange it was that the smell of female arousal was entirely absent from the air.

Jason blinked and shook his head, surprised that he was already so hard just from the smell of sex. He looked around for once, giving the shrine the attention it was due. His jaw dropped, his mouth struck agape by the awesome sight that made itself manifest before him now that he took the time to look.

The chamber was roughly circular, and though it was surrounded by walls about as tall as Jason was high, they eventually sloped upward and together gently, forming a dome that Jason was sure was twice his height.

All along the dome, arranged with seemingly no rhyme nor reason whatsoever, were crystals that were surely of magical origin. They took the little flickering light from his torch, magnified it, and radiated it in dancing patterns of blue, green, and sea-green all across the walls.

At the heart of the circle was a pool, one large enough for Jason to lie on his back with much room to spare. The water glowed with a familiar light that Jason could not quite name. Its surface was still, as though it was unperturbed by the wind.

Jason found himself compelled to walk in the direction of the pool. He stopped at the water’s edge and looked down, surprised to see that there was an underwater cavern just underneath the still surface. Something told him—perhaps instinct, perhaps magic—that it would not be a good idea to enter the pool.

Jason tore his eyes away from the sight of the rocky passageway under the water, glittering with crystal and pieces of pearlescent shells. His eyes settled on a bowl-shaped depression he had not noticed before. It was a little ways away from the pool and on the opposite side from where he stood.

Curious, Jason walked around the pool and looked into the shallow bowl. There seemed to be holes at the bottom, but the most striking feature was the oil that half-filled it. If Jason did not know better, he would have thought the bowl was filled with lamp oil.

For a moment, Jason considered dipping his fingers into the oil and lathering it upon his cock. As the heady smell of male musk filled him, it made the arousal in his belly grow, and his mind to grow hazier with pleasure.

Jason looked closer at the oil and discovered something he had not seen earlier. Strands and globs of white floated upon the surface of the oil. There was no doubt in Jason’s mind that it was come. Although he knew he should have felt repulsed by it, the image of the mermaid hovering over the bowl as she expelled the essence that her visitors left within her womanhood sent shivers of pleasure racing up Jason’s spine.

Jason squeezed the base of his cock, groaning when he felt his formidable manhood throb in between his fingers. He did not think he could get much harder than he was. The tip of his cock began to drip. Clear strands of pre-come fell to the floor by his feet. He groaned again as he began to languidly stroke himself, lost in the pleasure that the smell of sex had compelled him to do.

Jason shook his head after a few moments, affording himself some temporary clarity of thought. He looked at the oil and guessed that he was supposed to light it. He bent down and brought the head of the torch to the surface of the oil.

Jason jumped back when with a hiss, a fire blazed into life. So startled was he that he dropped his torch and it rolled away, guttering as it went. Jason was about to turn around to pick up his torch when an even more pungent smell of male arousal washed over him from the fire.

Jason’s cock throbbed in his hand, and with his arousal, the clarity of his mind was swept away. He turned away from the torch, which was slowly dying, and looked upon the pool.

Jason knelt before the still waters, staring into them, losing himself in the clarity of the pool. He idly stroked his cock, dripping pre-come on the floor between his knees. His thoughts wandered, unbidden, to the words he had read etched into the rock on the surface. “ _Speak thrice old name of ancient sea._ ”

Jason braced his arms against the sides of the pool and lowered his face almost to the water’s surface. His lips hovered but a hairsbreadth above the stillness of the pool. He remembered the stories he had heard while living with the Tuatha Dé Danann. Stories of a Fey so old and so powerful that the Tuatha considered him in every way a god. The personification of a river so mighty and immense that it encircled the whole world.

“ _Okeanos_ ,” whispered Jason, his warm breath ghosting over the still waters, making them stir and ripple. At first nothing happened, and Jason had to wonder what he had done wrong, but when the ripples reached the other end of the pool, the very air itself seemed to tremble with terrible power.

“ _Okeanos_ ,” whispered Jason a second time, emboldened by the first. He stroked his cock, the arousal in his belly growing hotter despite there being nothing but the smell of manhood to fuel it.

The laugh that echoed all around Jason did not perturb him from his almost-lazy stroking of his member. Nor did the darkness that fell upon him, as the firelight from his torch and the oil-flame were extinguished, faze him. The only light left was dim, just barely enough to make out the outlines of things. What little light remained came from the crystals high overhead.

“ _Okeanos_ ,” whispered Jason a third time. He raised his lips from the pool and leaned back as the water began to froth and bubble. In the dim light, he could just barely make out the slender form of a creature rise from the water, giggling with a high-pitched voice that made Jason’s arousal blaze even brighter.

Jason leaned back further and spread his legs, openly stroking his cock in the dim light of the crystals. He was spellbound by the scent of male arousal in the air. His inflamed lust had made him forget all about his aversion to the sensual company of women, at least for this mermaid that sat on the edge of the pool before him.

Jason’s eyes raked hungrily up and down her slender form. There was something familiar about the mermaid, but he could not quite place a finger on it. His lust-addled mind certainly did not help matters at all. He drank in the sight of her and stroked his cock faster as heat pooled in his belly.

In the dim light, Jason could not make out the mermaid’s form very well, though her outline was desirable enough on its own. Her voice, or at least her soft giggling, which was musical and high-pitched, was soothing. There was again a sense of familiarity in Jason’s mind, but he could not wade through the thick haze of need to determine why it was that the mermaid seemed so familiar.

The mermaid flicked her tail and laughed as water from the pool splashed onto Jason. Jason did not flinch though the water was biting cold. Even his cock did not seem to be affected by the coldness at all.

Jason looked upon the mermaid’s form again, eyes half-lidded with lust. He stroked his cock faster and faster, wrenching his hand off of his manhood with great effort when he felt himself approaching the edge of orgasm. There was certainly no denying now that he wanted more than anything to please this beautiful, magical creature before him.

A small voice in Jason’s mind told him that his desire for this mermaid was solely because of magic, but the dull roar of arousal and his rapidly-beating heart drowned that voice out.

“Come to me,” whispered Jason as the mermaid removed her tail from the pool and laid it against the smooth stone. She slipped bangles of silver, gold, bronze and sea-green stone onto her forearm. He watched, eyes wide with wonder, as water from the pool crept up her tail, glowing softly, and transforming her lower extremities into a pair of slender legs.

The mermaid jumped to her feet, her ample bosom jiggling in the darkness. She made her way to Jason, practically bouncing on the heels of her feet. Jason rose to his own feet and faced the mermaid, who was a head shorter than him.

Jason smiled at the mermaid and looked upon her face, hidden still by the darkness that hung about them both. He cupped her chin with his fingers and tilted her head back to place upon her lips a tender kiss that left the both of them breathless.

“My lady,” breathed Jason, feeling the heat in his groin rise through his belly, his chest, his neck, and finally, up to his cheeks. All these years he had never thought a female could arouse such lust in him, but needless to say, he was more than ready to act upon it.

Jason pressed his cheek against the mermaid’s and whispered in her ear “You must be so lonely living in this shrine.” He was never the smoothest talker, though somehow, the magic of the shrine had turned him into the most effective of flirts.

The mermaid did not answer him. She only smiled as Jason traced a thumb across her lips. With his other hand, he traced her jaw, surprised for the first time that what he expected was not what he felt. Her face was neither as round nor soft as he expected of a woman. The mermaid was possessed of a somewhat more angular jaw, something that convinced Jason she was more of a masculine beauty.

Jason could not find any reason whatsoever to complain about that. His fingers brushed her hair, that hung down her back and fell in waves to her shoulders. Her hair felt odd, slippery and leathery like kelp.

Before Jason’s fingers could travel any further, however, the mermaid snatched his hand and kissed it, suckling on his fingers. His other hand made its way down her neck, lingering in the flesh of the hollow of her collarbone. His ministrations manged to draw a groan out of her, and he could not help but grin.

Jason’s fingers wandered even lower, and before the mermaid could do anything, he had grabbed her supple bosom. Only, her bosom was not as supple as he had expected. They were also rounder than he had ever experienced. They felt slimy and entirely unlike flesh.

Before his horror at the discovery could snap Jason out of the spell, the mermaid grabbed his other hand and began to suckle on the fingers of that, too. Though it was but a tame thing to do, Jason could almost feel her soft lips and talented tongue on his manhood.

Jason never thought that he would ever use the words to describe the situation, but he did. His cock was being sucked vicariously through his fingers.

Jason was no longer aware of how long had passed before the mermaid finally took his fingers out of her mouth and let his hands drop to either side of him. She seemed perfectly happy to look at him, slack-jawed, arms dangling, cock bobbing up and down.

The mermaid stepped away from Jason, turned around, and bent down as though to pick something up. Her legs were far enough apart that when she bent down, Jason got an eyeful of the mounds of her ass. His cock, ever the mindless beast, hardened even more and dripped pre-come onto the floor.

Jason clenched his hands to either side of him into fists. His knuckles turned white from the tightness of his grip. It was all he could do to keep himself from pinning the mermaid to the floor and fucking her senseless then and there.

Jason also noticed, in the dim light, that the mermaid was not fully nude as he had first thought. She was wearing a rather skimpy undergarment that consisted of only a string around her waist, a pouch over her womanhood—which had a small, but suspiciously larger than normal bulge—and two straps that framed the cheeks of her ass to keep the pouch secure.

Jason felt a desire deep in his belly grow. He wanted more than anything to tear that pouch off of the mermaid and fuck her until she begged him to fuck her more. Before he could act on the instincts brought to the surface by the magic of the shrine, however, kelp shot out of the pool and wrapped around his wrists and ankles.

Jason struggled for a moment before he realized that the kelp was nigh-unbreakable. Panic settled into his bones. The spell of lust over him broke, though only for a moment. The mermaid walked back up to him, trussed up as he was, and stroked his cock.

With the groan that escaped Jason’s lips, his resistance faded. The mermaid stroked him up and down as she gently lowered him to the floor with the help of the kelp. When she was done, Jason tried to raise his head to kiss the mermaid, but the kelp held him firmly in place.

When finally, Jason’s entire body relaxed in surrender to the will of the mermaid, she giggled. He realized that there was no point in struggling, although, truth be told, he did not see why he would want to. The mermaid’s fingers wrapped around the flesh of his cock were enough to make him quiver with anticipation for whatever was coming next.

The mermaid removed her fingers from around Jason’s manhood. Jason had to bite back a groan of disappointment. He tried to move his arms so he could stroke himself, but to no avail. He held his breath, apprehensive but at the same time, unable to wait for what the mermaid was to do next.

The mermaid stood from where she had knelt beside Jason. She took one of her feet and planted it firmly on the other side of Jason’s body, turning away from him. She bent down, granting Jason another look at her shapely and, truth be told, delectable rump. Jason could not complain about the sight, though he would have preferred setting his eyes upon her surely beautiful face.

Jason involuntarily held his breath in anticipation as the dim light showed him that the mermaid had slipped her thumbs underneath the two straps of her skimpy garment. He expected her to remove the pouch and impale her womanhood upon his manhood, but nothing of the sort happened.

Instead, after adjusting her garment, the mermaid sat upon Jason’s cock, nestling his length between her soft and supple cheeks. She ground her hips back and forth over Jason’s, rubbing Jason’s cock-head up and down the cleft of her ass.

Jason could not help the moans that left his lips the moment that the mermaid began to move. It had only been too long since he had had the company of anyone in his bed, and she was simply far too talented for him, lowly fey creature as he was. Jason whimpered as he felt the pre-come leaking out of his cock’s slit made the space between the mermaid’s ass-cheeks slick with lubricant.

Perhaps it was a minute, or perhaps it was eternity. Jason did not know. He was nigh-delirious from the pleasure that was only _just_ not enough to get him to his peak. All he knew was that when the mermaid sprang up from where she was sat on his cock, that an involuntary groan issued from his lips. His cock rose to its full height, pointing to the ceiling in all its glory, ready, more than anything, for what was to come.

A guttural roar managed to claw its way out of Jason’s throat when, with one swift motion, the mermaid plunged his stiff cock into her ass. Such was the pleasure of sinking his member into the mermaid’s tight, warm channel, that Jason never once thought how strange it was that a mermaid that desired coupling would not instead use her womanhood.

Needless to say, all other thoughts were driven quickly out of Jason’s mind when the mermaid’s supple bottom settled on his flesh, his member fully buried inside her maddeningly pleasurable heat. His cock throbbed within her, and he could feel her insides seemingly massaging him. He wanted nothing more than to thrust into her, but he felt another wet length of kelp wrap around his waist to keep him from doing so.

Jason threw back his head and cried out in pleasure and frustration. He panted from his sheer arousal, but he do nothing, only think about how the mermaid had entirely wrested control of the situation from him.

Jason gasped as he felt the mermaid squeeze her entrance tight around the base of his cock, making it throb once more within her. It seemed, to Jason, that the mermaid was not interested in the least with giving him a chance to be the dominant one. However, as soon as the mermaid began to move herself up and down his cock, all thoughts of taking control simply evaporated.

The pleasure coursing through Jason’s veins, radiating from his cock, was simply so mind-numbing that Jason felt as though he was losing himself to his lusts. His mind could do nothing but helplessly turn all its attention to the exquisite sensual bliss that each movement of the mermaid elicited from his loins.

Up and down the mermaid rode Jason like she would a galloping horse. Jason lost the ability to form coherent words the faster the mermaid fucked herself on his cock.

Jason could only hear the obscene sounds of flesh slapping against flesh and grunts and moans that were all distinctly male. So fogged was Jason’s mind from the haze of lust that permeated it that he managed to convince himself that the sounds were only his, and the mermaid was entirely silent save for the lewd sounds of their coupling.

Before long, Jason’s body tensed. His toes curled upon themselves, and he felt a fire building in his nuts. He keened, the sound long and low, as his cock began to swell inside the mermaid, telling of the climax that he had been denied for so long.

The mermaid, however, seemed intent to seize control of his own orgasm from Jason. She pulled herself off of him, leaving his cock throbbing and bobbing up and down in the empty air. He begged to be let come. “ _Please,_ ” he whispered as tears streamed down the sides of his face.

The mermaid giggled, the voice sounding an octave lower than it had been earlier. What followed next was a scream ripped from Jason’s throat as the mermaid sat down upon his length, impaling herself in one smooth motion.

Jason’s manhood, plunged back into the tight ass of the mermaid, began to throb. The mermaid cried out as well, as she reached her own climax. Jason was so focused on his own cock as it swelled, that he did not even hear the distinctly male cry of release that the mermaid made.

Jason came for what seemed like forever. His cock throbbed and swelled, spewing spurt after spurt of hot white cum that filled the mermaid almost to bursting. Jason felt as though he was about to die in the most blissful way he could have possibly imagined.

No sooner had Jason’s orgasm subsided than the haze of lust that had covered his thoughts began to dissipate. Jason took one look at the mermaid still seated firmly upon his cock before he felt guilt wrap its thorns around his heart. He could not believe that he had coupled with a mermaid, especially since he had so long pined for the company of a certain merman.

Jason’s thoughts turned unbidden to Perseus as tears streamed down the sides of his face, this time, not from delirious pleasure but from profound sorrow. Despair threatened to swallow Jason whole, yet before the guilt could overwhelm him, the unthinkable happened.

The pendant that hung around Jason’s neck began to glow with a radiance that it had never had save for on the day that he had received it. His eyes grew wide when the crystals along the domed ceiling above caught the light from his pendant, even seemed to _resonate_ with it.

Jason, eyes wide, cast his eyes to the walls around him, bathed in dancing sea-green light much like Perseus’ eyes. All of a sudden, epiphany struck Jason like a load of bricks. He gasped. There was a reason the ‘mermaid’ had felt so familiar.

The fair mermaid who had closed her eyes and was still fucking herself on Jason’s cock by wriggling her ass froze when she heard Jason’s gasp. She cracked open her eyes to see her shrine bathed in a heart-wrenchingly familiar light.

Though she was terrified of what she might find if she turned around to face the man whose cock she’d just fucked herself on, the mermaid pulled herself off of Jason’s member and faced him. “Gods,” whispered the mermaid, revealed to not actually be a mermaid at all.

“Good gods,” answered Jason from where he lay prone on the floor. In the bright light, with no shadows to hide either of their features, recognition bloomed between the two old friends. In the bright light, it became excessively clear that Perseus’ hair was made of kelp, and his breasts were two octopi that squealed from the sudden brightness and jumped off of his chest.

As utterly hilarious as the sight of two octopi scrambling down the sides of Perseus’ body was, Jason found his eyes drawn to what he’d thought was simply a suspicious bulge between the mermaid’s legs. The bulge was growing rapidly. In fact, he could quite clearly see the outline of a cock pressing against the sheer fabric.

Perseus took one step back as Jason struggled to free himself from his bondage. “Jason?” he whispered, as though he could not believe what he was seeing, what he had just done.

Red flooded Perseus’ cheeks, his sea-green eyes riveted onto Jason’s sky-blue ones when they met. The uncomfortable silence between the two of them grew until Perseus could not take it anymore. He turned away from Jason, tears streaming down the sides of his face, as he tore the bangles from his arms and leaped the distance to the pool.

As soon as Jason saw Perseus turn away, strength flooded into his limbs and he jumped to his feet. The shrine was filled with the sickening sound of the seaweed binding his arms tearing to shreds as the magic that kept them unbreakable withered away.

Jason ran toward Perseus as the merman’s feet fused back together into a tail just before Perseus reached the surface of the pool. Before Perseus had a chance to swim away to his home in the depths through the magical waterway underneath the shrine, Jason plunged into the waters right behind him.

Perseus tried to shake off his old friend, but Jason had wrapped his fingers tightly around the base of Perseus’ tail. Perseus tried to warn his friend, but was too late as the magic whisked them both away.

Jason, on the other hand, did not care. He was not going to let go of Perseus. Not now. Not ever. It had been far too long since Jason had spent any time with the man that had once been his best and only friend. The man whom he had loved so dearly yet had been too cowardly to confess to.

Now that he knew Perseus was still alive and he’d found the merman, Jason would not let go until they had had a good long talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. There we go. I hope you liked this chapter. I certainly liked it. :3.
> 
> What did you think of the possible implication of a sequel? What did you think of Jason's reaction to the Shrine? What do you think is going to happen next? ABOVE ALL OF THAT WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE OCTOPUS BOOBS?
> 
> *cackles evilly* Oh yes, I loved this chapter a lot.
> 
> So yeah. There. :3. Anyway, leave a kudos if you like the story so far, and leave a comment if you want to give me a piece of your mind! I would love to read what you have to say. :3.


	3. Into the Light

Jason was immediately alarmed when Perseus began to thrash his tail in an attempt to shake Jason off. It was to no avail, however. Perhaps if it had only been a mortal man gripping him, Perseus’ tactic would have worked, but Jason was no mortal man, and his fingers had an unnatural strength about them.

Jason’s grip remained true even as Perseus descended the column of water underneath the pool. The stone that lined the edges of the pool was far rougher than the stone of the island above it. Nevertheless, as close as Perseus’ thrashing brought Jason to the jagged rock, he had no intention of letting the Merman go.

Jason would not let Perseus’ tail go. Not now. Not ever. Nevertheless, he had to wonder, however, if Perseus would surface any time soon. Surely, Perseus knew that while he was immortal, he was not invulnerable. As Jason began to grow lightheaded from the lack of air, he hoped against hope that Perseus would not let him drown.

When Jason’s lungs began to burn from the lack of air, Perseus showed no indication that he would resurface any time soon. Jason kicked his legs in alarm, but again, he was unwilling to let go of the merman’s tail.

Jason felt a prodding in his consciousness. He resisted it for as long as he could, but the lack of air made it difficult. “ _Let go, Jason_ ,” said a voice in his head. Jason very nearly opened his mouth to gasp in surprise. He had the good wisdom not to. He would only have hastened his demise. “ _Let go or you will surely die_ ,” said the voice once again. It was familiar. He knew that voice. It was definitely Perseus.

“ _No_ ,” said Jason, in response. He hoped that Perseus could not only send him thoughts but read his own in return. “ _I’ve spent the last two hundred years waiting and yearning for you. I’m not going to let go now and lose you all over again_.” Jason wanted to say so much more, but the lack of air was beginning to sap whatever strength he had left.

“ _You will die!_ ” said Perseus, voice more forceful than before. Jason had not known mermen could hiss in their thoughts, yet, here was Perseus to prove him wrong. “ _I cannot surface. This is not simply a pool with a cave under it, you fool. I thought you would have known better. This is a Waterway_.”

Jason blinked. He should have recognized the pool for what it was: Merfolk magic. Nevertheless, he knew that it was certainly too late to attempt escape now. He narrowed his eyes. He could see a faintly shimmering membrane of magic not too far away in the water in front of them.

“ _Then maybe I want to die with you_ ,” said Jason, just as he felt a tingle run through his body, radiating out from the tips of his fingers. Jason felt _some_ air return to his lungs, but he knew that Perseus could only manage the flimsiest of magics whilst in transit through the Waterway.

Perhaps it was for the best that Jason did not hear Perseus’ response to his morbid thought, for he was not ready to face the possibility of rejection. At that moment, a powerful current took hold of the two fae and sent them hurtling through the magic that comprised the heart of the Waterway.

Even as they tumbled haphazardly through the water, Jason did not let go of Perseus’ tail. They passed the thin membrane of magic that was in front of them, and as soon as they did, all the light of the world winked out. Jason could still feel the water flowing around him, but he was left hurtling blindly through the terrifying darkness.

It did not take very long for Jason and Perseus to emerge on the other side of the Waterway, but for Jason, whose body was now clamouring for air once again, it felt like an eternity. The light returned, and the current subsided, as a single thought crossed Jason’s mind.

“ _Fuck_ ,” said Jason, fully aware that there was only one place Merfolk waterways went; “ _I’m in the open ocean_.”

Jason realized quickly that he did not care. He looked up, and the surface was much too far above for him to make it in time. He only instinctively knew which way the sky was because he was part-fae of the heavens. Had he not had this heritage, he would have been even more hopeless.

Jason looked at Perseus, whose brows were furrowed in concern. Jason realized that if he was going to die, at least he was going to do it in Perseus’ arms. With what little strength he had left, Jason clambered up the length of Perseus’ body and pressed a kiss to the merman’s lips.

Perseus’ eyes widened as he heard Jason’s voice in his head. “ _I yet love you, seaweed-brain_ ,” said Jason as he savoured the soft flesh of Perseus’ lips; “ _I have always loved you, and I am glad that after all these years I have found you_.”

Mere moments later, the final dregs of Jason’s resolve crumbled away into dust. With all the strength remaining in his limbs, Jason wrapped his strong arms around Perseus before finally, he was unable to resist, and he opened his mouth to allow water into his lungs.

There was a brief moment of panic and overwhelming pain that engulfed Jason before the world turned black a second time.

\----------

To say that Perseus lost his composure the moment that his connection to Jason’s mind was severed would have been an egregious understatement.

Absolute terror the likes of which he had never known gripped Perseus’ heart. For an alarming few moments, simply could not think of what to do to help Jason. Everything that he knew about land fae, and creatures of dry land in general, deserted him in the moments that he needed the knowledge most.

Perseus had to admit that those were the scariest moments of his life. He had loved Jason so long ago, and while that love and the loss that had come with it faded away into a dull pain in his chest, it was still there. Hearing the words that he’d longed to hear from Jason for so many years right before Jason died was simply unacceptable.

Perseus took a deep breath, or at least, what qualified as a deep breath for a merman, and gathered his thoughts. Instantly, they turned to the one thing that could save Jason, the one thing that should have been obvious from the very beginning: air.

Perseus craned his neck up. The surface of the water was very far above them, and he did not know if he could get Jason there in time. Needless to say, he would be damned if he did not at the very least try.

Summoning all the formidable magicks of his heritage and his travels, Perseus wrapped an arm around Jason’s waist. With powerful strokes of his tail, Perseus began to swim up, shooting through the water like a bullet the way that only a merman could. Using his magic, he called up a current from the depths to propel him even faster upward.

The roar of water past Perseus’ ears was deafening, and it was not until Perseus neared the surface that he realized he had probably overdone the magic. He could not slow down. He had severed the magic, but the current remained strong.

Before Perseus could react he shot out of the water, a good ten feet into the air, before falling, far more gracefully, back down. Perseus hoped that he had not made a fatal miscalculation. The line between Jason’s life and death was moments thick. He could not afford to waste any more time.

Perseus pressed slightly-webbed fingers to Jason’s chest and felt for a pulse. It was there. It was _still_ there, he noted with relief. Perseus felt like weeping in joy, even if the pulse was weak and Perseus still had a lot of work to do. At the very least he had not killed Jason yet.

Perseus placed two of his fingers on Jason’s lips and willed the saltwater that flooded Jason’s lungs to flow out. As he pulled his fingers away, the water within Jason followed in a steady stream that dribbled down the sides of Jason’s lips.

When it was done, Perseus pinched Jason’s nostrils shut and placed his lips upon the other fae’s. He was not the best at this, but he prayed to the gods that Jason would live. Perseus breathed sweet air into Jason’s lungs and waited. Moments later, Jason coughed and sputtered before taking a shuddering breath. Still, the land fae did not wake.

Perseus pressed his fingers once more to Jason’s chest. While Jason’s pulse was getting steadily stronger, it was not enough for the merman. He had to take Jason back to his home. That was the only way that Jason was going to survive. First, however, he had to grant Jason a blessing that only a true merman could.

Perseus placed a kiss upon Jason’s lips and rubbed his fingers along the sides of Jason’s neck. He willed his claws to come out as he raked four of his nails along the tender flesh of Jason’s neck hard enough to draw blood, but not enough to be potentially fatal.

Perseus willed away the claws as he traced his digits along the gashes whilst whispering words in the ancient tongue of the Merfolk.

Perseus closed his eyes as he felt Jason’s biology begin to shift underneath his fingers. The blessing was, unfortunately, permanent, but he was sure Jason would not mind. Perseus felt the wounds on Jason’s neck deepening. He could feel the new tissue forming underneath the skin. Perseus held his breath until he felt the laps grow over Jason’s new gills without problem.

Perseus was still not content with the work he’d done. He wouldn’t be, at least not until he saw for himself that the magic had not gone horribly wrong, as was always a chance when working with the arcane.

Perseus pulled Jason underwater with him and watched as the gills began to do their work. Jason’s body twitched as water filled his lungs, but Perseus could feel that Jason’s heartbeat was growing stronger. He was not lacking of air anymore.

Perseus felt a wave of relief wash over him as he saw Jason’s chest rise and fall as though breathing. He held his fingers out and felt the water rushing through Jason’s gills. He was certain Jason would find it rather strange that breathing with gills wasn’t much different from breathing with lungs.

All that was left for Perseus to do was make sure that Jason was not too injured by the drowning and the journey through the Waterway. Perseus wrapped his arms firmly around Jason’s body and swam into the distance, toward the cove that he called home.

\----------

For the longest time, Jason felt as though he was drifting blindly through thick molasses. He could not, much as he tried, determine if he had a body of any sort, but he was certain that he could not move. He wondered if this was what it felt like to die, or if this was simply a purgatory before his soul returned to the void from whence it had come.

Jason was fairly certain that he had drowned. He was sure that it meant he was dead.

Jason felt a warmth spread through his entire essence as he remembered the circumstances of his drowning. He’d found Perseus again, and admitted those feelings he’d been too cowardly to admit so long ago. It was only such a shame that he had done so moments before he died. Even if he was dead, his soul returning to the void, Jason was glad that he had kissed Perseus for one last time with no secrets to hide.

With no warning whatsoever, Jason felt the molasses that surrounded him begin to subside. It was replaced with a more familiar feeling: that of water on his skin. Moments later, Jason gasped as he felt sensation return to his limbs. The tips of his fingers tingled, and he was confronted with the strange feeling of _stuff_ between his digits.

It took a little while longer for Jason’s sight to return to him, but the moment that it did, he flailed where he lay in a panic. He was underwater. He was _in the water_.

That he was going to drown was the singular thought that dominated Jason’s mind as he clawed at his neck. He would have shrieked in pain at the sensation of raking his fingers over his new gills, but he was still thinking like a land fae, and he was afraid he would drown if he opened his mouth to scream.

It took a moment before Jason finally realized that he was breathing. He was _breathing_ _in the water_. It was, truth be told, all too much for him. He was a land fae, and even then, only just because his true home was in the skies. To be able to breath _underwater_ was alien, strange, and, as his instincts screamed at him, downright reprehensible.

Jason’s struggles doubled when he felt strong, surprisingly-warm arms wrap around his body. “ _There, there_ ,” said a voice in his head. The moment that Jason recognized the voice, he stilled. “ _That’s better_ ,” said Perseus in his head; “ _You were about to damage the gills that I worked so hard to give you_.”

Jason’s chest heaved with the tremendous effort of trying to calm down at the same time as trying to get used to the new organs around his neck. He raised his trembling hands in front of his face and realized that there was webbing in between his fingers. He looked down and noted with great relief that his cock seemed relatively untouched by his transformation, and he did not have a merman tail.

For that matter, however, Jason’s toes had webbing, too.

“ _You gave me a fright there, Jason_ ,” said Perseus, pressing his cheek to Jason’s neck and tightening their embrace. Jason flushed red at the contact. He could feel Perseus’ tail against his ass, but where he expected a cock and balls to be nestled between his cheeks, there was nothing. “ _I thought you were going to die_.”

Jason craned his neck to look back at Perseus. His cheeks warmed at seeing Perseus’ handsome smile. “ _Well_ ,” said Jason, with a sheepish, self-deprecating grin, “ _I probably should have. I didn’t realize it was a Waterway. I was stupid enough to dive in, but I wasn’t stupid enough to risk losing you again_.”

Perseus pressed a kiss to Jason’s neck as the land fae looked away. Jason drank in the sights around him. He supposed the cave they were in was Perseus’ home. It was a lot plainer than he had imagined.

Perseus’ home was bare save for a rock that looked suspiciously like it was used for lounging, and the bed Jason and Perseus were laying on at the moment, made of woven kelp that was surprisingly soft.

The walls were lined with the same crystals that had been upon the dome of the shrine, and they glowed with a soft light that allowed Jason to _just_ barely see everything that was in the cave. “ _I have to admit_ ,” said Jason, looking around one last time before turning to face the merman; “ _I had expected something more opulent for someone with your blood_.”

Perseus’ laughter echoed in Jason’s mind. Jason did not know why Perseus had laughed, but he decided that he liked hearing Perseus’ laughter after all these years of being apart from the merman. “ _I don’t stay here very often_ ,” said Perseus, sincerely. He did not like being in one place too much. Staying in one place too long brought back bitter memories of people he cared about leaving and never coming back no matter how long he waited for them.

Thus far, Jason was the first to have found his way back to Perseus, and while Perseus would have wanted their reunion to be under different circumstances, he was all too happy that the two of them were together again. Even if none of the other important individuals in his life returned, Perseus would have been satisfied with Jason’s presence alone.

Jason gingerly raised one of his hands to his neck. The gills there felt rather sensitive after the thorough clawing he’d inadvertently done to himself earlier. He hissed with pain through the mental link with Perseus when he touched a rather sensitive patch of flesh.

Jason found the sensation of having gills and breathing water to be so very strange yet familiar at the same time. It was definitely something he would have to get used to. Jason wondered idly if the gills were a permanent addition to his body, and the thoughtful silence from Perseus did very little to allay his fears.

“ _Yes_ ,” said Perseus, gently stroking Jason’s arm up and down as he would a lover, not that he’d had a lover before. There was a reason why he pretended to be the ‘Fickle Mermaid’ after all. Nevertheless, this was what Perseus imagined he would do to a lover if he had one. “ _I’m afraid it is permanent. Only whilst you are submerged, however_.”

“ _On land,_ ” said Perseus, smirking at Jason; “ _It would be as though nothing has changed at all_.”

Jason could not help but sigh when Perseus’ arms unwrapped from around his body. Almost immediately he missed the heat, but no sooner than that, he had to bite back a groan. Perseus swam up in front of him and just hovered there, waiting for Jason’s reaction to how he looked.

Jason drank in the sight with relish. Even after two hundred years, he still remembered Perseus’ appearance all those years ago. The merman that… _floated_ before him, however, was a changed one.

Perseus looked more mature. Features that had once been soft, now looked chiseled, though no less handsome. His stomach, which had been flat before, was now lean but defined. Arms that had been slender were now somewhat thick with muscle. How Jason had ever mistaken Perseus for a mermaid, he could not quite tell.

“ _Okay,_ ” said Perseus, with a chuckle through the mental link; “ _Perhaps the seaweed hair and the octopi breasts were not the best idea_.” Jason couldn’t help but send a laugh in Perseus’ direction as well. “ _But I was also wearing a glamour, you know_.”

Jason shook his head. Though deception was not a very good circumstance for their reunion, he did not care anymore. He was just glad to be with Perseus again. Silence stretched between them, until Jason broke it. “ _Thank you_ ,” he said, sitting up on the bed, looking into those familiar sea-green eyes that still made his heart jump with their intensity; “ _Thank you for last night, and thank you for saving my life_.”

Jason’s thoughts ran away from him, drifting unbidden in the direction of what he and Perseus had done just the previous night. Though he still felt guilty about taking Perseus without the merman’s express permission, he couldn’t help but feel a familiar stirring in his groin.

Redness crept into Jason’s cheeks as his cock rapidly inflated from the thought of having Perseus impaled on his manhood. Jason coughed into his hand in an attempt to distract Perseus, but the particular gesture did not translate well underwater, and all it did was attract Perseus’ attention to his problem.

“ _Happy to see me?_ ” said Perseus, swimming gracefully through the water and gently tapping the head of Jason’s turgid member.

“ _You have no idea_ ,” breathed Jason through their mental link. The truth was that he had almost given up on Perseus, but he simply couldn’t. There was a part of him that would not let the other fae go. He knew of soul-bonds, but never in his whole immortal life had he imagined he would be worthy of such a profound relationship with _anyone_.

“ _Then perhaps you would be made happier if I offered a solution to your not-so-little predicament right here_ ,” said Perseus, a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he grabbed Jason’s shaft and gave it a quick tug.

Jason’s lips parted in a low moan. He did not hear the sound he made since the water between the two of them did not convey the sound very well to Jason’s ears. Perseus, on the other hand, heard it in perfect clarity.

Perseus grinned and lowered himself between Jason’s legs. At the last moment, however, just as he was about to wrap the head of Jason’s cock with his lips, Jason pushed him away. Perseus looked up, seemingly offended that Jason did not want the worship he was about to bestow.

“ _I took you last night without your full knowledge_ ,” said Jason, shaking his head at Perseus. He had to admit that Perseus’ mouth filled with his cock was a very appealing image, but he was a noble soul, and the lack of consent of their coupling the previous night was bothering him.

“ _Would it not be fair, instead, that I surrender myself to you in return?_ ” said Jason. He pushed himself off of the bed and carefully attempted to manoeuvre himself through the water. He moved slowly, not trusting his body to move in the way that he wanted it to.

Eventually Jason managed to turn around. He swam back down and bent himself over the bed. He spread his legs and presented his ass to the merman. To be entirely truthful, even the idea of Perseus entering him was making him aroused. His cock ached between his legs, and the soft woven kelp that comprised the bed certainly did not help.

As he tried to entice Perseus by moving his ass from side to side, he could not help but think, for the first time, how Perseus would choose to fuck him. Realization dawned on Jason that he didn’t even know if Perseus had a cock in this form, or if he did, where it was kept.

Jason craned his neck backward just in time to receive a lesson in Merfolk anatomy. Right where Perseus cock would have been, if Perseus had legs, was a slit. It looked almost like the parts of a woman, the way that the two lips that held it shut glistened with what seemed to be lubrication.

“ _Not what you expected_?” said Perseus, teasingly, as the glistening, tapered head of his cock pushed its way past the folds of his slit. Jason had to admit that he would have liked to see a more _human_ cock, but in this case, he rather liked the tapered nature of Perseus’ member. Both because it was Perseus’ cock, which was always a good thing, and the fact that the tapered end would ease entrance into his hole.

“ _No,_ ” said Jason, with a nervous grin in Perseus’ direction. Perseus chuckled through their mental link. “ _I have to admit I haven’t seen anything of the sort before_ ,” said Jason. He also had to admit that the idea of being fucked by something distinctly not human was beginning to arouse him. “ _What manner of ocean beast does it take after?_ ”

“ _Why_ ,” said Perseus, with a playful smirk; “ _The friendliest beast, of course. The dolphin._ ” Perseus carefully moved himself into position behind Jason, planting his hard cock firmly in between Jason’s warm and supple cheeks. “ _And one of the most lustful, I might add_ ,” he said, gently rutting his cock in the cleft of Jason’s ass.

Jason but back a moan, but there was no such way to do that mentally. Perseus heard the full, lewd sound that echoed between the link that bonded their minds together when he slapped Jason’s ass.

“ _But do you really want to do this here?_ ” said Perseus, in a voice that promised incredibly perverted but equally arousing things in the near future. “ _We are in the depths of the sea, and the only place that you could think of, Jason, was the bed? I would have expected something more adventurous from you, love_.”

“ _Well pardon the fact that I’ve lived on land my entire life and know nowhere else to couple with someone I…_ ” Jason trailed off. His words died before he could continue. Neither he nor Perseus had talked about what it was that was between them, and he suddenly found himself gripped with apprehension.

Jason steeled himself. The last time he’d quailed from facing his feelings, he had spent two hundred years searching fruitlessly for the man he’d fallen in love with. There was no room to be shy now. “ _With someone I love_ ,” said Jason, voice still nervous in spite of his resolve.

Perseus chuckled at the strong emotions from Jason that washed over him through their bond. He reached down and threaded his fingers through Jason’s. “ _I love you, too_ ,” said Perseus. In the five hundred years since he last saw Jason, the love that had blossomed between the two of them so long ago had never faltered.

Relief flooded Jason. “ _In any case_ ,” he said, after managing to regain his composure; “ _Do you have a better idea where to have sex that will not lead to likely dismemberment or accidental death?_ ”

Jason could not help but quail somewhat when Perseus bared his teeth in a savage grin. Those teeth looked deceptively innocent at first glance, but Jason’s perceptive eyes could tell that those teeth were also rather sharp. Jason wondered what Perseus was thinking bringing those miniature daggers close to _his_ cock. He shuddered at the thought of one of Perseus’ sharp teeth grazing the sensitive flesh of his manhood.

“ _Come on_ ,” said Perseus, with a lighthearted laugh. He tugged on Jason’s hand with surprising strength. Jason supposed that he should not be surprised. He was in the home realm of Perseus, after all. It only made sense that Perseus was the one with the upper hand. “ _I do have a better idea,_ ” said the merman, “ _and I’m sure you’re going to love it_.”

Jason had not realized how deep Perseus’ home was into the cave, not that he had any way to figure out that it was to begin with. It took the two of them a good minute to get to the entrance, where a forest of seaweed wove back and forth through the water to the whim of the current.

“ _It’s not much of a home_ ,” admitted Perseus, as he called upon his magic to part the seaweed. “ _But no one will find it unless I want them to_ ,” said Perseus, as he led Jason through the tangle.

“ _One moment_ ,” said Jason, as Perseus pulled him through the seaweed out to the other side. “ _Why grant me gills and webbed digits but not a merman’s tail? I’m certain it would be much easier for you to take me where you want to go, then_.”

Perseus laughed. The musical sound echoed in the mental link between the two of them. “ _To be entirely truthful_ ,” said Perseus, with a mischievous smirk; “ _I was hoping you would offer me the privilege of fucking you, and it would be much easier if you had legs instead of a tail._ ”

Jason could not help but laugh at Perseus. “ _That_ ,” said the merman, “ _and I was looking for an excuse to hold you close_.” Jason felt his heart flutter in his chest. It was surprising how so little had changed between the two of them. Two hundred years apart and their banter was still so much like what they had shared before. It was refreshing.

Perseus came to a gentle halt after a while, though he failed to account for Jason’s momentum. The two of them pitched forward for a moment before Perseus managed to get them both back in control. “ _We’re here_ ,” said Perseus, pointing down through the deep at the massive cave mouth that loomed before the two of them.

“ _Have you gone mad_?” said Jason, sounding incredulous. He could barely see a thing in the dark as it was. He could only _just_ make out the outline of the cave. Perseus wanted to go _in there_ where he was sure he would not be able to see _anything_.

“ _I can’t see anything and you want to take me down there?_ ” Jason grabbed Perseus’ arm and shook it as best as he could. “ _What if there’s some manner of grotesque ancient beast down there?_ ” said Jason, with a panic-stricken face that Perseus could not help but find rather adorable and amusing at the same time.

Perseus laughed and tugged Jason closer to his chest. “ _I don’t_ only _have a dolphin’s cock in this form_ ,” said the merman. “ _I have other gifts, too_ ,” he said with a smirk. “ _Listen_.” Jason heard nothing, and he had to wonder if Perseus was merely jesting.

Before Jason could protest, Perseus shot off through the darkening waters. Just before they plunged into the shadows of the cave, Jason heard _it_. He was terrified beyond belief, and the rapid clicking sound that Perseus made at that moment certainly did not help with the fear that was coursing through Jason.

Perseus, once he’d gotten his bearings, swam freely into the dark. Jason kept expecting to crash into something, or perhaps get eaten by some colossal, hideous underwater fae, or some beast of the abyss. Instead, the trip was relatively nice—that was, if being terrified half to death counted as “nice.”

It felt like forever, but eventually, the darkness lifted. Jason could see light streaking through the deep blue water. After a few more minutes, he could make out the shapes of clumps of glowing crystals like the ones that had been at the shrine.

The crystals lined the walls of the cave, and Jason could not help the gasp that escaped him, both physically and mentally, at the realization of how absolutely _massive_ the cave was. He was sure that the ceiling was as far above them as a belltower, and the bottom was even further than that. It had become startlingly clear to Jason why they had not bumped into anything despite swimming in what had seemed to be a straight line.

Eventually, the light of the crystals grew muted, but not because the darkness was closing in once more. This time, instead of darkness, it was light. There was a different, brighter, more vibrant light that was streaming through the water. Jason craned his neck to look further before them, his jaw falling open at the sight of the veritable paradise that lay on the other side of the cave.

Perseus did not slow as they swam past the cave mouth. Beyond it was a massive cavern filled with crystal clear water. Large schools of multicoloured fish darted around vibrant corals that strung the stone walls. Bright sunlight streamed into the water from the vast yawning hole in the ceiling.

Jason saw that there were crystals lining patches of cave wall devoid of coral, however, instead of emitting light like the ones present in Perseus’ home, the cave leading to this one, and those at the shrine, these seemed to take the sunlight streaming in from the roof and magnified it so that it would bathe the entire height of the cave.

Jason held out a hand as he and Perseus passed by a shelf of corals. His fingers traced the fronds of one of the more treelike species, one of many that dotted the cave walls wherever there weren’t any crystals. He was surprised to find that the coral was neither as rocky nor firm as he had expected.

Jason was gaping in awe at the entire place. It was a veritable underwater paradise. In all of his travels, he had never come across any place more beautiful. There were a few he could think of that were perhaps _equally_ beautiful, but nowhere more.

As Jason’s eyes drank in the staggering variety of corals and the beautiful fish swimming around, Perseus decided to speak to him. “ _Do you like the place_?” said Perseus, more amused than he thought he would be that Jason had been dumbstruck by the beauty of the cavern. It was one of the wonders of the Merfolk world, after all. How tragic it was that there were so few around now to see it.

“ _Yes_ ,” said Jason, his mental voice sounding breathless despite the physical impossibility of that happening underwater. He was unable to articulate a more eloquent response as Perseus slowed their motion to a halt. Jason looked around. They were floating in the dead centre of the cavern, bathed in the centre of a brilliant shaft of sunlight.

“ _Remember what I told you about the merfolk five hundred years ago_?” said Perseus, with a smirk, as he held Jason close. He could feel Jason harden against his stomach, and he found it incredibly arousing. He was fortunate that he could control when his cock would leave its sheath.

“ _That you were sick and tired of hearing that only the mermaids could sing_?” said Jason, trying, and failing, to inconspicuously rub his straining erection against the well-defined musculature of Perseus’ abdomen.

“ _Exactly_ ” said Perseus, as his hands travelled down the length of Jason’s back. Jason squirmed in unexpected pleasure at the feeling of Perseus’ webbed fingers cupping his ass.

“ _You also said that you were rather terrible at it_ ,” said Jason, with a smirk, as he wrapped his arms around Perseus’ neck and placed a kiss on the merman’s lips. He was fairly certain he had heard Perseus say five hundred years, but he was too aroused to care about the difference in how long they remembered being apart.

“ _Just you wait and see_ ,” said Perseus. Jason raised an eyebrow at Perseus, but before he could say anything, he felt a vibration wash over his entire person. At first he could not fathom what it was. He was blown away when Perseus opened their mental link to the song.

What had sounded like gurgling to Jason’s woefully un-adapted ears was the most beautiful song that he had ever heard in his mind. “ _Point taken, Perseus,_ ” said Jason breathlessly through their shared bond.

Jason listened to the song, and although he could not understand the ancient Merfolk tongue that Perseus was using, nor the meaning of the lilting high notes and mesmerizing lows, all he knew was that the song gripped his heart and made his cock stiffen even more.

Jason’s jaw dropped when he saw what was happening around them. From all over the miniature reefs in the cave, fish came out of their hiding. They swam about in glimmering ribbons of shifting colours as they darted through the water, spiralling ever closer to where Jason and Perseus were suspended in the middle of the cavern.

By the time that Perseus was finished with his song, Jason was afloat in a peace that he had not felt in a very long time. The fish had also surrounded the both of them, swirling around the two fae like a mesmerizing cocoon filled with colour and life.

Jason gasped when Perseus placed lips upon his gills. They were so sensitive. He had not even thought of them as an erogenous spot, but the way his entire body tingled with pleasure from Perseus’ lips on his gills made him want more.

Jason cried out, both mentally and verbally, when Perseus bit into the sensitive flesh of his gills. It was a playful bite, and though painful, it was pleasurable. If this was part of what having gills meant, Jason would have gladly kept them even on land. The pleasure that coursed through him was intense, and it only made his cock begin to leak pre-come into the water.

Perseus was more than happy to wrap his fingers around Jason’s aroused length. He stroked it languidly as he moved them through the water in a soothing back and forth motion. Jason leaned into Perseus’ touch, wrapping his legs around Perseus’ waist with considerable effort.

Somehow, the knowledge that Jason’s tight entrance was not exposed for his pleasure made Perseus lose whatever control he had over his cock. The tapered tip of his member poked through his slit, pushing apart its folds and rising to attention as though smelling the delicious musk of Jason’s most private of places.

The fish swimming around the two of them slowed to a stop the moment that the tip of Perseus’ cock touched Jason’s entrance. Jason closed his eyes and tried to ‘breathe’ evenly. He was aroused beyond belief by what was going on, and though he’d taken cocks up his ass before, being with Perseus was making him anxious. He did not want to disappoint the merman.

Jason pressed his face into Perseus’ neck as the merman bit into his shoulder. His cock throbbed and he felt a glob of pre-come spurt out of the tip. He opened his eyes and pulled back to watch the barely-visible orb of pre-come rise between himself and Perseus.

With glee, Perseus squeezed Jason’s ass. All of a sudden, Jason felt an incredibly strange and discomfiting sensation within him. He struggled in Perseus’ grip, but the merman held him fast. He felt as though something wanted to leak from his hole, and in his disgust at the prospect of turning the water brown, he knew it was the last thing that he wanted.

Jason begged Perseus to let him go so that he could take care of what was going on with his entrance, but the merman only answered him with silence. Excruciating moments of futile struggling passed until finally, Jason could not hold it back anymore. His entrance relaxed and _something_ gushed into the water. Whatever it was felt slick, and slimy, and for a moment, Jason was disgusted.

“ _You’re self-lubricating now_ ,” said Perseus, with a smirk as Jason’s face turned multiple shades of scarlet. “ _Most Merfolk are_ ,” he said, as Jason reached around his ass to touch his tender hole.

Jason whimpered as he felt the slippery film of material on his hole. He was also far more sensitive down there than he had been before. He was sorely tempted to plunge his fingers into his ass, but he restrained himself. The thought of lubricant coming out of his ass did not disgust him as much as he expected it to. Instead, he was finding it incredibly arousing.

The very thought of being self-lubricating made him expel another glob to the muffled sound of a moan from his own lips. Perseus grinned and plunged _his_ fingers into Jason’s inviting warmth. Jason cried out, both physically and mentally, as he was breached and stretched so easily thanks to the lubrication.

Perseus grinned as the fish began to swim away. He played with Jason’s hole for a few seconds more before he pressed his lips to Jason’s and pushed into the land fae. Jason whimpered and moaned into Jason’s mouth as the merman’s cock pierced his tightness, its tapered tip passing through his most sacred of places with no resistance whatsoever.

Jason could not help but think that Perseus’ cock was the smallest he’d ever taken. He was not left with that thought for very long. He had forgotten that Perseus’ manhood was _distinctly_ not human, tapered at the end and flared at the base.

Perseus pushed into him without stopping. Halfway down, Jason realized that Perseus’ cock was long, and the rate at which it was gaining girth was alarming. His hole was already beginning to burn pleasantly from the size of Perseus, but he was not willing to admit that he was afraid.

Perseus moved his hands away from the cheeks of Jason’s ass. He had heard Jason’s supposedly-private thoughts of not making a sound until Perseus was firmly seated within him, so he decided to unsettle Jason.

Perseus grabbed Jason’s legs and pulled with all his might. Jason’s eyes fluttered open as Perseus’ cock slid into him with no resistance whatsoever, the natural lubricant streaming from his entrance easing the rapidly thickening member into him. Without warning, Perseus slammed the rest home.

Jason, despite his attempt to the contrary, cried out in ecstasy as the desire that had been building in him to get filled was satisfied. His hole burned pleasantly from the stretch of Perseus’ girth. He noted with great amusement at his own embarrassing assumption, that Perseus’ cock was far from the smallest that he’d ever taken. If anything, it was exactly the opposite of that.

For a profound moment, Perseus and Jason simply held each other. They looked into each other’s eyes and wondered how they could have lived for centuries not spending the years with each other.

If either one of them had had any doubts that they were the blessed possessors of a soul-bond, those doubts were most definitely erased after that moment.

Nevertheless, the tight heat of Jason’s channel and the pleasant throbbing of Perseus’ cock made it impossible for the two of them to spend much time in regret over the years they had been apart. Jason’s entrance relaxed around the base of Perseus’ cock. Jason ground his hips against Perseus, enticing the merman to get to the best part of coitus.

Perseus took Jason’s enthusiasm as an open invitation to rut as roughly as he could manage. He was well aware that his cock was curved in just the right way that before Jason knew it, his button was being pummelled mercilessly with each thrust.

Jason tightened the grip of his thighs around Perseus’ midriff, and his ass spasmed around the member buried deep within him. His toes curled and his back arched in response to the pleasure that flooded his entire being as Perseus began to fuck him faster and faster.

Jason could not remember a single instance when lying with someone had caused such exquisite and intense pleasure as he was experiencing at the moment. He had indeed been with other men, but all those flings had always been quick. They had always been means to an end, no emotions nor meanings attached.

This profound bonding between him and Perseus, the pleasure that seemed to resonate with his very _soul_ , was entirely different.

Jason did not know if the rapturous pleasure that was threatening to overwhelm him was because he was in love with the man before him, but he liked it. He moaned wantonly with each of Perseus’ thrusts to breach him. His reservations about the novel ability of his entrance to ease the passage of Jason’s cock evaporated, and slick leaked from him freely.

Jason was more than thankful that he had received the gift of self-lubrication. It made the rough fucking that Perseus was giving him less and less painful and more and more pleasurable.

Relentlessly, Perseus pumped his cock into and out of Jason. Jason was was entirely at the merman’s mercy. His cock leaked pre-come, woefully neglected. Nevertheless, Jason was sure that the feeling of a hand around his member would not compare to the exquisite ecstasy that flooded him each time Perseus’ cock rubbed against that sweetest of spots within him.

Jason felt as though his cock was going to explode from the relentless, constant pressure on his prostate. As it was, however, he was hanging on to Perseus for dear life and he did not know what else to do other than tighten his grip on Perseus’ midriff even more.

Jason bucked his hips to the rhythm of Perseus’ thrusting as best as he could in the water. He struggled to rub the head of his cock against the firm musculature of Perseus’ abdomen. The feeling of the merman’s soft, supple skin against his cock was heavenly but it was still not enough to take him to the release that he so desired.

Globs of pre-come streamed from the tip of Jason’s cock. Of course, Perseus managed to throw Jason further off guard by darting forward and eating one of the salty-sweet spheres right out of the water.

Jason could only whimper when the taste of pre-come seemed to make Perseus fuck him even harder. The merman changed the angle of his thrusting, and his tail moved violently back and forth to propel his cock deep into Jason. The water below them frothed from all the movement.

The coupling was beginning to get far too intense for Jason, unused to the pleasures of coitus under the sea. Jason’s cock throbbed and swelled, but he could not make himself let go of Perseus, let alone stroke himself to that release that he so desired.

As much as Jason wanted to come, he could not. Rubbing his cock against Perseus’ stomach was not enough.

Perseus could sense Jason’s distress through their mental bond. He pressed his lips to Jason’s, satisfied in the knowledge that he had made good enough love to Jason to provoke the land fae to begging for release. “ _Please, Perseus_ ,” came the strained mental voice of Jason, sending more blood rushing to Perseus’ cock.

Perseus was himself riding the edge of orgasm. He saw no great reason to prolong their anguish, although, to be entirely truthful, it was mostly for ulterior motives. He would have loved to torture Jason even more, but at the moment, he was too caught up in his instincts. He wanted to feel Jason’s tight channel squeezing him and milking him for all the come he could give.

Perseus smirked to himself. Jason was bound to be in for a surprise once Perseus had his release.

With a mischievous glint in his eye, Perseus let go of one of Jason’s legs and wrapped his fingers around Jason’s cock. The mere touch made Jason gasp in pleasure. The playful tug to the formidable manhood that followed made Jason groan.

Perseus stroked Jason’s cock in slow, twisting motions so novel to Jason that they elicited even louder moans from him. Perseus marvelled at the feeling of Jason’s cock in his hands. It was such a marvellous specimen, firm, hard, throbbing, and filled with life.

Jason’s cock was the perfect example of virility, and Perseus simply could not get enough of it. He wished he was flexible enough to suck the essence out of Jason while fucking the land fae, but it was nigh impossible. He had a spine, after all, and he was fairly certain the pleasure would drive Jason insane. He wanted to keep Jason sane for as long as their immortal lives would let him be, however, and he was not going to risk that.

Perseus stroked Jason’s cock languidly at first, but Jason refused to allow Perseus to dictate the pace for very long. Jason thrust his hips as best as he could in tandem with Perseus’ thrusts both to bury Perseus’ cock deeper within him, and to fuck Jason’s loose fist around his member.

As Jason’s manhood swelled with imminent release, Perseus found himself moaning at the constriction of Jason’s tight channel around his member. “ _Cum for me_ ,” breathed Perseus, knowing full well that Jason would not be able to hold back his release for much longer.

Jason shuddered, and then he stiffened. Perseus removed his hand from around Jason’s cock and pressed his fingers to Jason’s chest as the land fae arched into the touch. Jason’s toes curled and he threw back his head, mouth falling open in a silent scream, as he came with such force that his seed shot through the water and into Perseus’ eager mouth.

As Jason was coming all over him, Perseus pulled Jason close. He held Jason against his chest firmly and began to slam his cock into Jason in earnest.

Jason mewled as his sensitive cock, spent but still hard, rubbed against the supple skin of Perseus’ abdomen. The merman, however, was much more interested in spilling his seed inside of Jason whilst Jason’s channel spasmed around his member, milking him for every drop that he had.

With a loud grunt, Perseus impaled Jason all the way down his cock. Jason’s entrance clamped around the base of his length, just like any good merman’s hole would. Perseus quickly found that he could no longer hold back.

Perseus groaned and bit into the flesh of Jason’s shoulder with enough force to draw blood as he came. Powerful spurts of come flooded Jason’s guts as the water bloomed crimson in front of his face. Jason’s eyes, which he had squeezed shut, fluttered open from the strange sensation of being filled to the brink and more.

After a few seconds, not even minding the blood in the water, Jason expected Perseus’ orgasm to abate, but it did not. Perseus’ come continued to fill him, and as it did, he began to feel bloated from the sheer volume of the stuff.

Jason whimpered as he felt another orgasm building in his loins. He did not know why it happened, nor did he know where it came from. All he knew was that as his over-sensitive cock rubbed against Perseus’ stomach, it began to spurt thick globs of come into the water.

Jason bit down on Perseus’ shoulder just as the merman had done to him. Scarlet blossomed in the water, but it did not hurt for either of them. Their blood mingled and swirled around them, leaving crimson bands around their wrists. They were bonded, both by soul and by blood, and there was no denying it now.

It took a full minute for Perseus’ cock to stop spurting inside of Jason, but when it did, Jason felt so bloated he wasn’t surprised to see that his stomach was bulging from the amount of come that had been pumped into him.

Perseus rubbed Jason’s now-plump belly lovingly. He cooed mentally to the land fae, “ _Look at that_.” Perseus pressed his fingers to the distended flesh, unable to suppress a mental giggle as the skin seemed to ripple. “ _It seems you were more fertile than I imagined. You seem as though you are carrying my child, Grace_.”

Perseus could not help but smirk as a look of abject horror crossed Jason’s face. “ _I was merely jesting, love_ ,” said Perseus as he pressed a gentle and tender kiss to Jason’s lips. “ _Be thankful I am a child of the sea, and not of the birthing bed_.”

Jason laughed, and though breathless even in his mental voice, he leaned into Perseus and said “ _That was definitely a better idea than the bed_.” A few moments later, Jason looked up into Perseus’ sea-green eyes and said “ _It was also definitely two hundred years since we last met, not five hundred_.”

Jason immediately regretted even speaking as a dark cloud descended over Perseus’ face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. There we go. :3. The last chapter of this series.
> 
> Did I end on a cliffhanger? WHOOPS. <3\. I hope you like this, though. I certainly had a lot of fun writing it. :3. It was fantastic. :D. What do you think of the story so far? I might be tempted to make this into a series whenever I have the time to write for it. >:]. It's probably going to be Porn with Plot, mostly, if I do.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your smut. Leave a kudos if you like the story. Leave a comment if you would like me to read your feedback. I would love that!


	4. Setting Sail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guess what?! SURPRISE!

Perseus had not meant to cause Jason any alarm, but when he saw the brief look of terror in Jason’s eyes, he sighed and took Jason’s hand in his own. Gently, he pulled Jason off of his cock, a spurt of come and slick spilling into the water when he pulled out.

Perseus gently swam Jason over to a rocky outcropping not too far away that had always been his favourite to sit on. It was relatively free of corals, and there were only a few fish swimming around it. There were, however, anemones swaying in the current along where the outcrop met the cave wall.

With tenderness that Jason had not expected following what he’d seen on Perseus’ face, the merman set him down on the outcrop. He squirmed where he sat, though less because it was uncomfortable, and more because he could still feel Perseus’ seed sloshing around inside him and intermittently leaking from his well-used hole into the water.

For the longest time, Jason and Perseus looked at one another. Each of them silently watched the other as though trying to measure what would happen next. It was Jason that cracked first under the pressure. Tentatively, reluctantly, he prodded at Perseus’ mind. “ _Did I do something wrong_?”

Jason felt another surge of fear when Perseus did not so much as move a muscle, even to blink. “ _Did I, maybe, offend you by not knowing that the Merfolk counted the years differently than the creatures of the land?_ ” said Jason, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

At first, the expression on Perseus’ face was unreadable. Jason was not sure whether the merman would launch into an angry tirade or burst into uncontrollable laughter. He did not like not knowing one bit. He tensed where he sat, fists clenching against the edge of the rock outcrop.

After another few moments of silence, Perseus shook his head and did the second thing that Jason had expected him to do: he laughed. Perseus did not stop laughing for the longest time, pointing at Jason’s red face as though it was the most humorous thing he’d seen in a while.

The notion that the Merfolk counted the passing of the days differently than the land-folk was ridiculous, as far as Perseus was concerned. Jason looked down at his knees, red to the very tips of his ears, humiliated by Perseus’ laughter.

“ _You should see your face, Jason_ ,” said Perseus, with the kind of grin that Jason wanted to wipe off of his face. “ _Did you live with the Tuatha De?_ ” said the merman, swimming up to the outcrop to sit down beside Jason. He rubbed shoulders with the land fae, showing, without words, that there was no bad blood between them. “ _Did you stay with them at the Isles_?”

Jason squinted at Perseus. He could not quite tell if Perseus had landed on a rather lucky guess, or if there was something about him that he did not know of that said he had been with the Tuatha De.

Perseus could not help but read Jason’s briefly panicked thoughts. “ _Perhaps you should learn to guard your thoughts more, Jason_ ,” teased the merman in good faith. His gentle smile was answered by a further reddening of Jason’s face and a harsh mental poke from the land fae.

Perseus shook his head and lay it against Jason’s shoulder. “ _No_ ,” said the merman, “ _There is only one possible way that you could have experienced the passage of time slower than I._ ” Jason frowned. He still could not quite grasp what Perseus was hinting at. “ _Time flows differently in the Isles of the People_.”

“ _I still don’t quite understand why that is a bad thing…_ ” said Jason, in response. Three hundred years, to a fae, was a relatively short time. There were those among the fair folk that would argue that a fae child remained a child until a thousand years of age.

The fae perceived the passage of time differently than mortal folk. Jason, in particular, was likely far removed from it as he had lived for many years among the Tuatha De, the most aloof of their peoples.

Jason had not known mermen to blush, but when he looked at Perseus, there was certainly a redness in Perseus’ cheeks. “ _In truth, Jason_?” said Perseus. Jason nodded and looked at him strangely, as though he’d just asked a stupid question. It was, Perseus had to admit, but he did not like having to admit to less-than-pleasant feelings.

Perseus sat upright, removing his head from where he had laid it on Jason’s shoulder. He looked away and sighed before he spoke. “ _I am envious_ ,” said Perseus, biting his lower lip in a way that Jason thought was adorable.

The look in Jason’s eyes made Perseus look at him ruefully. “ _I have always wanted to visit the Isles of the People. It is one of the few places in all the seas that the Merfolk cannot visit because of the magicks of the People._ ”

“ _Then perhaps I can guide you there_ ,” said Jason. He reached across the distance between himself and Perseus. He laid his hand upon the merman’s and showed Perseus a tender smile that he meant to be comforting. “ _It should be fun_ ,” he said, with all the innocence of a child. “ _It would be just like old times. You and I. Together on an adventure to some uncharted place in the world…_ ”

Jason leaned all the way back until he was lying on the surface of the rocky outcrop, his legs dangling over the edge. He looked up and watched the sunlight dance against the waves high above. Perseus followed his example, though when he turned to face the merman, there was a rather strange and puzzled look in Perseus’ eyes.

“ _Were you serious?_ ” said Perseus, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement at Jason.

“ _Did I do something wrong this time?_ ” said Jason, feeling somewhat offended that instead of reacting with enthusiasm, Perseus instead asked him if he was being serious.

“ _No, no, you didn’t,_ ” said Perseus, stroking the side of Jason’s face with his index finger. “ _I would love to go on an adventure with you again. Like old times. But perhaps we could not go elsewhere, not the Isles._ ” Jason tilted his head. Hadn’t Perseus just said that he _wanted_ to go to the Isles?

“ _You do not know, do you_?” said Perseus, chuckling good-naturedly at Jason’s ignorance about the many Workings of the many different peoples of the fair folk. “ _The spells that protect the lands of the People prevent any one person from finding them twice unless they are brought there by one of the People_.”

“ _Is that truly how it works?_ ” said Jason, with a quizzical look upon his face. He was certain that he had seen his sister Thalia leave the Isles and return on more than one occasion. He had to admit, however, that he was far from the most reliable source of information on the matter.

When Jason had first managed to leave the Isles, he had stayed away just to distance himself from the pain that his mother’s death had brought him.

“ _Yes_ ,” said Perseus, the single word coming through their mental link so softly it was almost a whisper. Perseus sat back up and looked around at the beautiful cavern before his shoulders slumped forward.

Jason saw the subtle shift in Perseus’ countenance and sat back up as well. He placed a hand on Perseus’ shoulder just as the merman looked at him with a heavy sigh. “ _It is easier said than done to find one of the Tuatha De living outside the Isles these days_ ,” said Perseus, sadness falling like a shadow over his beautiful face.

Jason was not entirely surprised by this news. In all his years with the People, he had learned that they were not too concerned with the outside world, content to remain in their secrecy and isolation. “ _It is much more than what you think_ ,” said Perseus, his heart hurting for Jason’s ignorance of what had come to pass.

“ _It is difficult to find any of the fair folk these days, in fact_ ,” said the Merman with a heavy heart. “ _Even my fellow Merfolk still living in the open seas are few and far between. Most of all, they are difficult to find, even for one such as myself._ ”

Jason frowned and looked at Perseus. The quizzical expression he’d had from earlier hadn’t yet left, and given what the merman had just told him, he suspected that he would have it for some time yet to come. “ _What do you mean_?” he inquired.

Perseus did not reply to Jason. Not verbally. Not even emotionally, through their mind-link. Perseus simply fell silent and shook his head. So much had come to pass over the last five hundred years, and Jason had been sheltered from all of it. Perseus did not think he had the heart to tell the land fae all that had transpired.

Instead, Perseus decided to break the truth to Jason in a less brutal fashion. “ _This place used to be one of the most popular places to be for Merfolk, especially if you were a child,_ ” said Perseus.

The merman gestured around the cavern, but Jason was not impressed. He did not appreciate the derailment of their conversation, but it did not seem as though he had too much of a choice. “ _There used to be so many little ones swimming around, gaping at the beauty of the place._ ”

“ _This cave was one of the treasures of my people. Anyone who was anyone visited here at least once a month, if not once a week,_ ” said Perseus, with a nostalgic smile playing on his lips. “ _The fish here are as delicious as they are beautiful, and, on the best of days, they number as many as the children that came._ ”

When Perseus fell silent, Jason had forgotten all about his ire that Perseus had taken the conversation elsewhere. He expected there to be an end to the story that the merman had told him, but if there had even been one, it did not come.

The moment that Perseus looked at Jason with sorrowful eyes was the moment that the epiphany hit him. He looked around the tragically empty cave around them, his eyes filling with tears as he realized what Perseus meant. The cave was no less beautiful, surely, than the days that it had been teeming with the Merfolk, but now, it was sad and lonely all the same.

“ _What happened_?” said Jason, whispering in horror and pain through the mind-link that he shared with Perseus. He flinched when Perseus grabbed his arm, slender fingers vice-like around his bicep.

“ _There are some truths about this new world that you might not wish to know_ ,” said Perseus, looking Jason in the eye. It was not meant to be an insult. Perseus was simply concerned with protecting Jason, just as much as Jason was concerned with protecting him.

It was almost as though a spark of understanding jumped from sky-blue to sea-green eyes. Jason blinked and looked away, tears in his eyes. He already suspected the worst. “ _Do you want to know the truth?_ ” said Perseus in the gentlest voice he could muster as he released Jason’s arm.

Jason looked back at Perseus. After a while spent in silence, he finally nodded. “ _Of course I do_ ,” he said. He did not think he was ready, but it was better that he know than not. “ _I would like to live in this ‘new world’ as you call it. It would not behoove me to be ignorant of it._ ”

Jason reached up and stroked the side of Perseus’ cheek. He brushed back a lock of oily jet-black hair, and said, “ _If something happened to your people that is causing you this grief, then I will find whomever is responsible and spill their blood into the sea as price for their transgression_.”

The smile that Perseus showed Jason at that moment was brief and guarded. There was also a profound sadness behind it. “ _Let it be known that I warned you, son of Zeus_ ,” said Perseus, as he drew a ragged breath.

“ _The time of magic and the fair folk is over_ ,” said Perseus. His eyes bore into Jason’s own, seemingly piercing his very soul. “ _This is the age of Steel—_ ” The cavern walls shook as though in pain and displeasure at the mere mention of the word. “— _This is the age of Man._ ”

The cavern rumbled around them for a few heartbeats before finally falling quiet. “ _We of the fair folk have no place in the world today. Not with the many kingdoms and empires of Man sprawling across all the land_.”

Perseus looked away, eyes focusing on a faraway point as he turned his gaze. He averted his eyes from Jason’s as his heart began to thump with a deep-seated primal fear. “ _We only fear that soon—_ ” Perseus took a deep, ragged breath; “ _We fear that they will soon come to take the seas from us as well._ ”

“ _Where are the rest of your people_?” said Jason. His voice was stiff. There was anger behind it, as well as an unspoken demand for the truth. Perseus could sense the growing agitation within Jason, and in truth, he could not blame Jason for it. He had been angry for the longest time, too, but the years and the hopelessness of their situation had dulled the fire in his heart.

“ _They have retreated to the homeland. Prima Civitas, in the depths of the Mare Nostrum._ ” Jason looked at Perseus and tilted his head, surprised that Perseus had used the name that the Guild had given the sea.

“ _The guild didn’t give the Mare Nostrum that name_ ,” hissed the Merman with such anger and venom that it took Jason by surprise. “ _It is the mother sea._ Our _mother sea._ ” Perseus shook his head and looked away, his neck and ears colouring in embarrassment at his outburst.

“ _They took the name of our home and said that it was theirs to give._ ” Perseus looked down at his clenched fists. His knuckles had turned white, and the water was clouding with crimson from where his claws had dug into his palms. “ _It was ours long before those glorified apes even knew what the ocean even was._ ”

Perseus breathed magic into the waters and healed his hands. “ _My people are afraid that Men would soon come to take all that they hold dear_.” Perseus buried his face in his hands, sorrow and shame both bringing him to tears.

“ _My people fear that when Man comes, Man will show no mercy and destroy them._ ” When Perseus looked back up at Jason, he was not surprised to see the anger that was boiling behind those normally-gentle azure eyes.

“ _Is this the truth?_ ” said Jason, as though through gritted teeth. He was struggling to accept what Perseus had told him, and yet, there was a part of him, an ancient, primordial part still linked to the common ancestry of the fair folk, that told him that the fae were suffering. Perseus nodded, and Jason felt his heart sink in his chest like lead.

There was a moment of silence that stretched between the two of them. It felt like an eternity to Perseus, but it felt insufficient for Jason. Trembling, the land fae looked at the merman and said “ _If the fair folk are being driven from their homelands, then Man needs to be taught a lesson in who is the superior being_.”

There was an anger to Jason’s voice that Perseus had never expected to find there. “ _The fae are not to be trifled with. Man needs to be taught that they should respect the lands that the fae had seen fit to give them because of the youth of their race, in good will._ ”

“ _Man needs to learn that we did not give them an invitation to take all that they could and seek more._ ” Jason was visibly vibrating with the anger he felt, and Perseus could feel it through their mental link, corrosive and cloying, yet sweet and inflaming as well.

“ _Man needs to learn that our sacred lands are ours alone. Our ancestral homes,_ ours _._ ” Jason looked at Perseus, eyes burning with a fury that kindled the same in Perseus for but a moment.

“ _You learned the history of Man and the fair folk from the Tuatha De?_ ” said Perseus. Jason nodded. He _had_ learned the histories, though it was becoming increasingly apparent that the histories were the _only_ thing he’d learned in all his years with the people. It was also becoming rather clear that this knowledge was insufficient.

“ _Then you know that you are being idealistic_ ,” said Perseus, in a surprisingly accusatory tone. “ _Man is a young race, filled with fleeting lives for the fae. And yet, in all the few years they live upon this world, they are able to do so much, and change so much_.”

“ _There is a good reason that those that came before us gave them the lands that they did. Appeasement. They saw that Man had great capacity for evil as much as good, thus they thought it would be best if Man was kept happy and taught what it means to be good._ ”

Jason frowned in Perseus’ direction. He could not understand Perseus’ accusation of idealism, nor where it came from. “ _What a mistake that was has become rather apparent in the last five centuries,_ ” said Perseus with acid in his voice.

“ _Our peoples are disparate. Since Olympus fell we have had little time to run, much less organize a military force strong enough to drive Man from the lands that it wrongfully took._ ” Perseus shook his head in sorrow, anger, and frustration. “ _We cannot defeat them, much less keep them away for any significant amount of time._ ”

“ _The Seelie Elves managed to retake Alfheim for two decades before Man returned and slaughtered all that could not escape._ ” A red bolt of anger, as deeply crimson as the blood moon was, struck Perseus from Jason’s side of the mental link.

Perseus bit his lip for it was all he could do to not stagger from the force of Jason’s fury. Nevertheless, he could not blame Perseus for it. The fate that Man had forced on the Elfin Seelie was truly despicable. “ _They salted the earth of the sacred groves so that none of the great Silverwoods that lent power to the Elves would ever return_.”

Jason shook his head, trembling with anger at what Perseus had just told him. The light that surrounded them was no longer brilliant and beautiful. It was dim and ominous. High above, the heavens had gathered dark looming clouds.

Jason had not known that Olympus had fallen. The thought of the ancient city being brought low at the hands of Man called down a bolt of lightning that struck the rim of the hole in the ceiling of the cavern.

As though reading the thoughts in Jason’s mind, Perseus told Jason, “ _Olympus fell after a long and bloody war that lasted over a century. Steel and Iron clashed. Man against Fae. Fire against Blood. In the end, not even the greatest of our cities could stand against their onslaught and the King in the Sky fell with his throne_.”

“ _I am sorry for your father_ ,” said Perseus, gently laying a hand on Jason’s shoulder. He meant his condolences, but he could not have known that Jason had no love for his father left. “ _Your people have not yet chosen a new leader. The battle at Olympus came with a heavy toll, and the throne of your father remains empty to this day_.”

Whether he loved his father or not, Jason could not simply ignore the fact that even his people had suffered the consequences of this great war that he had not even heard of. Was it his fault for living amongst the mortals and not more of his kind?

All this time, Jason had attributed the lack of other fair folk only to the fact that he had been living in human cities. He had never imagined that it was because Man had driven them all away.

“ _Could I, perhaps, take my father’s place_?” said Jason. It was a harebrained suggestion, an insane scheme, a bid for suicide, but there was a burning determination in Jason’s eyes and in his gut. “ _Perhaps I could rally my people for the cause of all the fair folk, and if the seas rise up with us against the tyranny of Man, we could crush them and take back what we have lost_.”

The raw anger and fury that had overtaken their conversation waned, and Perseus could not respond for the longest time. He did not know how to. As Jason watched the merman, however, he saw something change. He saw a sparkle in Perseus’ eye that he knew had not been there before. It was hope.

“ _It is likely_ ,” said Perseus, with a smile. So used had he been to the disparate nature of the fae realms that he had never once considered what cooperation between Peoples could accomplish. Now that he did, however, he had to wonder why in all these years, the fair folk had been too proud to consider working together. “ _But for my people to follow you into battle, you will first need to prove that yours will._ ”

“ _When you have done that_ ,” said Perseus, hope rekindled and burning brighter than it had been in centuries; “ _You will need to seek my father and convince him of the necessity of this. Convince him that an alliance is for the best, and that an alliance would be for the betterment of both our peoples._ ”

Just as suddenly as the surge of confidence had inspired him, it left Jason when a realization hit him. “ _How could I possibly take the crown of my father when so few of my people even know of my existence?_ ” said Jason, for the true gravity of the situation hitting him like a brick wall.

“ _How could I possibly lead an army,_ ” said Jason, eyes wide, “ _When I could not even fathom how I could possibly lead my crew._ ” Jason shook his head. “ _Perhaps I spoke too hastily. Perhaps I do not have what it takes, after all._ ”

“ _Do not sell yourself short, Jason_ ,” said Perseus, gently rubbing Jason’s arm up and down in a gesture of comfort and solidarity. “ _And you need not worry about your father’s crown. There is likely already some human usurper wearing it. No. What you need is your father’s bolt. The Master Bolt_.”

“ _What do you mean, Perseus_?” said Jason, looking quizzically at the merman. He might have been educated in the histories of the fair folk, but he had not paid attention to the lessons on his own people. He had been rather bitter. Now he was beginning to regret that decision. “ _I know of the Master Bolt and what it is, but I do not see how it is relevant to taking my father’s throne_.”

Perseus laughed. He would have thought the People taught Jason everything, but it did not seem so. “ _You will know when we visit the palace of your father to reclaim what was lost_ ,” said Perseus.

Perseus could not help but laugh again when Jason raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. Jason mouthed a single word in his direction. “ _We_?”

Perseus stroked Jason’s arm once more and smiled tenderly at the man he had thought of so long ago as his best friend that would never be more than that despite how much he wished. Never in the five hundred years since had he dreamed that their relationship would come to this. “ _Did you really think we would part ways after what we have shared now?_ ”

“ _After what we have admitted to?_ ” said Perseus. Jason could not help but blush in embarrassment. He had not thought about that. In fact, he had become so used to travelling on his own that he had not thought this hare-brained scheme would be any different.

“ _We are now and always have been soul-bound,_ ” said the merman, looking at Jason with the kind of look that Jason had long fantasized he would get from Perseus. “ _Perhaps only now has the bond manifested so strongly, but now that it has, you and I both would only be miserable should we decide to throw caution to the wind and take different paths on the road to life_.”

Perseus traced a finger from the dip of Jason’s navel up the ridge that ran down the middle of the musculature of Jason’s stomach. Perseus’ nail grazed the bump of flesh in the middle of Jason’s throat and felt it bob as Jason gulped audibly.

Jason could not help but shiver when Perseus tapped his chin. “ _I shall go where you decide to take me_ ,” said Perseus, looking into Jason’s electric blue eyes, “ _and I can only hope that you would do the same for me._ ”

Deep in his heart of hearts, Jason already knew his answer to Perseus’ hope. He was certain that Perseus knew as well, but nevertheless, he did not allow the answer to go unspoken. “ _I will follow you to the ends of the earth. Whatever journey we take._ ”

Silence, heavy with emotion—joy, love, hope—filled the water between the two fae. They stared into each others’ eyes, content to just sit there and bask in their newfound togetherness. Jason could have lost himself in Perseus’ eyes then and there. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“ _You had better not decide to go on an adventure without me from this day forth_ ,” said Jason, with a toothy grin. Perseus could not help but smile in return to Jason’s casual jibe. Yes, the fate of the fair folk were riding on the success of this mission that they had, unwittingly, undertaken, but their banter was as lively as it had always been.

Perseus, as he looked upon Jason, could not help but be glad that the part of him he’d bequeathed upon the land fae, what he was now sure was the anchor of their soul-bond, had returned to him at long last.

Perseus no longer felt as empty, nor as fragmented as he had been before he was reunited with Jason. “ _I would not dream of it, captain_ ,” said Perseus, unable to help but read Jason’s thoughts about taking him onto the ship docked by Theopolis, and having their merry way together.

Jason’s eyes widened, and he looked at Perseus with surprise. While he was aware of speaking about a crew earlier, he was sure that Perseus had read his intent. The shock only lasted for a moment before the grin returned to his lips. “ _You scallywag_ ,” said Jason, with a chuckle; “ _Stop reading my thoughts!_ ”

“ _Then perhaps you should guard them better, captain,_ ” said Perseus, teasing Jason with a jab to the land fae’s side. Truth be told, Perseus was more than excited to go onto Jason’s ship. He had always wanted to embark on one, but he had only ever watched them from afar, both those of Man and the fair folk alike.

Perseus had long fantasized about being part of a crew aboard one of the People’s ships, but he had taken far too long to gather his courage, and by the time that he sought out the ships, they were long gone.

Nowadays, only the ships of Man sailed the high seas. Perseus had never felt safe enough to go on them, despite his powers in glamour and misdirection. A lot of Man’s ships carried Steel, and as one of the fair folk, Steel was anathema to him.

In a display of proficiency that Perseus had not expected of Jason, the land fae snatched the thought out of his head. “ _I assure you, Perseus_ ,” said Jason with a smug grin, “ _There is no steel on my ship. Iron, perhaps, since it is an old one, but no steel whatsoever._ ”

Jason, in the span of a heartbeat, decided that he should have learned more about the ways that mermen displayed excitement. Perhaps that way, he would not have been so taken by surprise when Perseus screeched in his ear and dragged him off the outcrop in the same instant.

Jason flailed in the water in a panic. Perseus’ arms were wrapped tightly around him, though, and there was no chance of breaking free. The merman shot out of the cave and through the long dark passage that led to it.

When they had first come to the place, Jason could have sworn that the dark passageway was much longer, but it seemed that Perseus had merely taken his time initially. Now, however, that Perseus was swimming at a breakneck pace, what had felt like an eternity in darkness earlier lasted only about a minute.

The next thing that Jason knew, he was being spat out of the pool at the centre of Perseus’ shrine, hacking coughs shaking his body as he attempted to accustom himself to breathing air once again. The gills at the sides of his neck melted back into his flesh, and so did the webbing between his fingers and toes.

Moments passed, and finally, Jason was able to breathe. It had taken a while, but he was sure it would become easier the more he practised.

Jason craned his neck upward and saw what was perhaps one of the most beautiful and arousing sights that the gods had seen fit to place upon this good earth. The merman, in human form with legs, was bent over. Perseus’ firm, round butt cheeks were spread apart just enough to reveal the still-leaking cherry that he’d made sure to very thoroughly pluck earlier—before he’d even _known_ it was Perseus he was fucking.

Perseus had bent down to pick up the extinguished torch from the floor of the shrine. The merman was examining it and making odd noises—an adorable sight for Jason.

“I’ve changed my mind,” said Jason, breathlessly, as Perseus straightened in the same brief length of time that it took for his cock to rise. “You are most definitely not allowed on my ship,” said Jason.

The merman looked over his shoulder at Jason, who was desperately trying—and failing—to hide his growing arousal. Perseus raised an eyebrow. “Unless, of course,” said Jason, with a smirk, “you treat me to a view much like this each night.”

Perseus grinned. He set down the torch, allowing Jason a glimpse at his delicious entrance once more before returning to the land fae’s side. “You wrong me, captain,” said Perseus, feigning offense; “that was but one of more, and better, views that I can help you see.”

Perseus pushed Jason onto his back and lay on top of him. He lazily traced a circle on Jason’s chest with his finger. “Now, if you would like more than just a view, however, I suggest you get up off the floor.”

Perseus chuckled and looked into Jason’s flushed face. “Get me to your ship as soon as possible for I should like to bless it with my essence.”

Jason could not help but chuckle at the innuendo. Once again, Perseus feigned offence and looked at Jason as though he’d just been slighted in the worst possible way. “Your thoughts are tainted, captain!” gasped the merman as he clambered off of Jason. “I so evidently said presence, not essence,” said Perseus, only to break down into laughter moments later.

“My mistake,” said Jason, pushing himself up to his feet at the same time that Perseus did. He pressed a quick kiss to the merman’s cheek, while grabbing one of the other, _lower_ cheeks and giving it a squeeze.

Perseus turned bright red just as Jason slung an arm over his shoulder and took him out onto the surface, where new lives, and a quest to restore the glory of the fair folk awaited them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really really really enjoyed writing this thing. Exploring the lore of the world that I kinda just plopped these two dorks in. Maybe there's a series coming up in this setting? I'm not really sure. :3. I hope you liked the chapter though. I would definitely love to see your thoughts about it.
> 
> Leave a kudos if you like the story! Leave a comment if you love meeee. <3\. That would be fantaaaaaaaaastic. :3.
> 
> EDIT: I completely, COMPLETELY forgot to put in a very massive thank you to [CarpeDM](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CarpeDM) for doing the beta-reading for this fic. Couldn't have done it without her, so do me a favour and send some love her way. <3.


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